F O R W A R D L A P O R T E

What are the city’s top 3 economic development priorities?

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Creating revitalization momentum for Downtown and Sylvan Beach requires careful planning and implementation.

La Porte’s greater downtown offers significant assets waiting to be linked.

F O R W A R D L A P O R T E

Comprehensive PlanOpportunities – Community Vision and Land Use

•“Encourage an active, vital downtown with a variety of uses” (Goal 4.4)

•“Provide an appropriate amount of land for various densities and types of residential uses and ensure the highest quality living environment” (Goal 4.5)

•“Develop a [pedestrian] network … through the La Porte area, including an interconnected system of paths, trails, lanes and routes (Goal 7.7)

•“Meet the future housing needs in La Porte by providing for a variety of housing options” (Goal 9.2)

F O R W A R D L A P O R T E

Comprehensive PlanOpportunities – Community Vision and Land Use (cont.)

• “Preserve the integrity of existing neighborhoods and create livable and safe neighborhood environments” (Goal 9.6)

• “Stabilize and improve the quality of neighborhoods and other areas of decline by attracting renewed private investment activity.” (Goal 12.1)

• “Revitalize the City’s historic downtown area” (Goal 12.2)

• “Revise existing ordinances and adopt new ordinances as necessary to implement the La Porte 2020 Comprehensive Plan Update.” (Goal 13.5)

F O R W A R D L A P O R T E

Comprehensive PlanOpportunities – Mixed Use is the Key (not buffering)

• “Protect Neighborhoods from encroaching incompatible development” (Obj.9.6.d)

- Amend the zoning ordinance to incorporate provisions regarding lot sizes,

setbacks and buffering (Action 1)

- Use the Land Use Plan to protect existing neighborhoods from adjacent incompatible land uses (Action 3)

This objective and the corresponding proposed actions assume that buffering, not transitions will provide protection for neighborhoods. A better strategy will be to revise the land use plan and corresponding regulations to facilitate good pedestrian connections and transitions between neighborhoods and commercial areas.

Neighborhood protections standards rely on buffering.

Buffering does not result in walkable, sustainable neighborhoods.

The adopted land use plan assumes conventional development, even for the greater downtown.

Zoning ordinance supports conventional development, except for the Main Street Overlay.

“There is a growing recognition that the ways we build housing and our cities are in no way sustainable.  That must change…. But focusing on housing is not enough. We must focus on location efficiency.

Shaun Donovan, Secretary of HUDNYU Housing Policy Conference, February 2009

Sustaining value, not just cash flow, is the new business model

F O R W A R D L A P O R T E

Comprehensive PlanOpportunities – Mixed Use is the Key (not buffering)

• Main Street Overlay

- Allows mixed use: commercial and residential- Creates urban pedestrian environment through build-to lines- Substantially reduces off-street parking requirements

Main Street Design Program

- Good intent; but what should be mandatory and what should be encouraged?

Supporting mixed use, the Overlay and the Design Program provide a good start for revitalizing the historic downtown as a mixed use destination. Their respective geographic reach, however, in terms of allowing quality walkable, mixed use redevelopment should be considered.

Looking at transitions may be the key.

Transition through urban design rather than buffering through walls and landscaping is the key.

F O R W A R D L A P O R T E

Comprehensive PlanOpportunities – Linking transportation and land Use

•“Develop a [pedestrian] network … through the La Porte area, including an interconnected system of paths, trails, lanes and routes (Goal 7.7)

• “Maximize network continuity to provide for the free flow of people….” (Obj. 5.2.d)

• “Provide a safe and effective means to accommodate pedestrian traffic and prioritize sidewalk improvement areas based on type of street and adjacent land use (Goal 5.7)

F O R W A R D L A P O R T E

Comprehensive PlanOpportunities – Linking transportation and land use

• “Establish a hierarchy of thoroughfare classifications that will provide for safe and convenient flow of traffic throughout the community” (Obj.9.6.d)

This approach focuses only on mobility. Accordingly, the classifications of the street types in the La Porte Development Ordinance are not context sensitive to adjacent land uses.

A partnership of the ITE and the Congress for the New Urbanism

C-4 Avenue

An application in a downtown

Downtown Duncanville, Texas

Reinventing Main Street to be the destination of town

Illustrative Main Street Master Plan and Section

Master plan, regulating plan and downtown form-based code

Mixed use block designed under new code on slip lane

Fiscal Analysis5-Year Phasing

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

New retail in mixed use (sqf)

36,000 51,250 230,250 46,500

New retail in live/work (sqf) 23,400 14,400 0 0

Town homes (units) 109 0 0 0

Live/work (units) 39 20 0 0

Office (sqf) 28,625 25,625 111,875 15,125

New lofts (units) 115 96 132 65

Fiscal Analysis

• Current tax base in area is $48.2 million• Commercial and office space is estimated to be valued

at $150/sqf• Live/Work spaces are valued at $225,000 per unit• Townhomes are valued at $150,000 per unit• Lofts at valued at $130,000 per unit• Retail sales are estimated to average $200/sqf• City of Duncanville property tax rate is held constant at

0.696%• City of Duncanville sales tax rate is held constant at 2%

Assumptions

Fiscal AnalysisIncremental & Cumulative Tax Base Gain

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

New retail in mixed use (sqf)

$5,400,000 $7,687,500 $34,537,500 $6,975,000

New retail in live/work (sqf) $3,510,000 $2,160,000 N.A. N.A.

Town homes (units) $16,350,000 N.A. N.A. N.A.

Live/work (units) $8,775,000 $4,500,000 N.A. N.A.

Office (sqf) $4,293,750 $3,843,750 $16,781,250 $2,268,750

New lofts (units) $14,950,000 $12,480,000 $17,160,000 $8,450,000

TOTALS $53,278,750 $30,671,250 $68,478,750 $17,693,750

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

New retail in mixed use (sqf)

$5,400,000 $13,087,500 $47,625,000 $54,600,000

New retail in live/work (sqf) $3,510,000 $5,670,000 $5,670,000 $5,670,000

Town homes (units) $16,350,000 $16,350,000 $16,350,000 $16,350,000

Live/work (units) $8,775,000 $13,275,000 $13,275,000 $13,275,000

Office (sqf) $4,293,750 $8,137,500 $24,918,750 $27,187,500

New lofts (units) $14,950,000 $27,430,000 $44,590,000 $53,040,000

TOTALS $53,278,750 $83,950,000 $152,428,750 $170,122,500

Fiscal AnalysisFiscal Impact

Existing Value:

$48,206,147

Property

Value

Property Tax

Revenue

Retail

Sales

Sales Tax

Revenue

Total Tax

Revenue

Existing + Phase 1 $101,484,897 $370,820 $11,880,000 $237,600 $608,420

Existing + Phase 1-2 $132,156,147 $584,292 $25,010,000 $500,200 $1,084,492

Existing + Phase 1-3 $200,634,897 $1,060,904 $71,060,000 $1,421,200 $2,482,104

Existing + Phase 1-4 $218,328,647 $1,184,053 $80,360,000 $1,607,200 $2,791,253

The redevelopment approach proposed offers the possibility of more than four times the current property tax base, with total additional fiscal impact approaching $3 million available for

investment in Main Street and the future TOD.

What opportunities for economic development can be unleashed through place-making and street redesign, especially along San

Jacinto, Broadway and Fairmont?

How can place-making and street redesign better link Main Street and Sylvan Beach, as well as promote quality infill development adjacent

to the key corridors?