Corvallis is planned as a 270-acre low density Traditional Greenway. Neighborhood in the Fort Worth suburb of Mansfield. The planning for Corvallis has been driven be a commitment to physical neighborhood planning principles and architectural integrity, with an emphasis on the establishment of a pedestrian friendly, walkable community^. Conventional "rack and stack” subdivisions in north Texas are more frequently characterized be their emphasis on the automobile and the associated sitter hierarchy. For Corvallis, planning a more efficient vehicular circulation system has been considered but only within the context of a more extensive effort to plan for the pedestrian.

Arcadia Realty, a Dallas based residential development company challenged the design team to create an economically feasible, multi-generational residential planned development. The Client's seated goals at the onset of this effort were:

•   75% of all homes within a 3-minute walk to a park, greenway, square or other open space;

•   Devote 25% , percent of the entire development to natural and man made open space, and;

•   Blend a variety of residential products into each neighborhood within the community.

If these goals were accomplished, a new standard for residential development would emerge in the north Texas market.

Landscape Architects role in developing / implementing the project:

To kick off this effort, the Landscape Architect conducted a planning charette in order to formulate the goals and objectives for the community. From that charette, the following guiding principles emerged:

•   Prioritize pedestrian walkability over vehicular efficiency ;

•   Distribute open space throughout the community to amortize it's value to the maximum extent possible;

•   Provide a diversity of lot products within each neighborhood, ensuring_ a diverse demographic profile as the community matures;

•    Establish an architectural design aesthetic that is traditional in its principles, but adapted to today's home builder market;

•    `Ground' the community with a career tech academy and an elementary school.

Additional roles that the Landscape Architect provided in the planning of Corvallis included­

•    Working with the Client and Architect to establish architectural principles requiring homes to project living space toward the street (public realm) and push garages to the rear of the lot:

•    Work continuously with the Client to achieve c the optimal blend of residential lot products to achieve planning principles while ensuring an economically ,fable program.

Successful resolution of the project program:

the Landscape Architect led in the successful resolution of the following planning objectives for Corvallis:

•    Implement an organic, curvilinear block structure. This will provide a variety of distinctive and varied home sites as opposed to highly repetitive rectangular `cookie cutter' lots. Curvilinear blocks in combination with non 90-degree intersections allow homes to wrap around block-ends, thus eliminating many blank featureless side card conditions and maximizing the number of units that front upon open spaces;

•    I Enhance vehicular efficiency through a series of interconnected loop streets, with no reliance upon cud-de-sacs or dead-end neighborhood streets;

•    Create usable open space that enhances real estate ,slues for homes far beyond those that immediately abut the space. All open space in Corvallis is fronted by single loaded streets, allowing the parks and open spaces to be used and celebrated and not `privatized' for a single bank of homes `backing' on the parks;

•    Design, with the \rehired and Client, a Pattern Book to regulate streetscape standards and ensure the creation of "people places" such as porches, stoops, balconies and garden rooms; •          Ensure diversity of housing product by proposing five residential products ranging from 55' lots to 90' lots. Each of four neighborhoods within Corvallis will be required to contain a minimum of 3 products;

•     Achieve Clients major goals by having 96% of all lots within a 3 minute walk to open space and 29°. % of the gross acreage of the community devoted to usable open space.

Impact and Significance of the project on the local community and surroundings:

The City of Mansfield, Texas has begun to experience all of the detrimental side effects of suburban sprawl: disconnected neighborhoods, non-contiguous and low value open space, declining residential and commercial real estate ,clues, and a community dominated by the automobile with little consolation for the pedestrian. Major thoroughfares are characterized by continuous thin wall edges, creating a bland and featureless 'tunnel' for those traveling through the community. Cit^y staff recognized these issues and encouraged Arcadia Realty and their consultant ream to "break our of the box". 'this encouragement even included consideration for variances to the City's stared goal of "3 units per acre". This goal had become the key ingredient in the creation of homogenous subdivisions with declining values.

The Landscape Architect led in the efforts to create a unique vision plan for Corvallis and for Mansfield-one that could establish a new standard for residential development in the city and assure an appreciation of value for future generations. 'this vision included dedication of a 30+ acre greenbelt / nature park that would create higher lot premiums and ensure an economically viable model for the developer. The parkland dedication also contributed a significant new component to the city’s future open space plan and did not require commitment of city’s funds to purchase.

With over 50% of all lots within Corvallis fronting upon open space, all research assures an appreciation of home values. This will help to relieve the burden that Mansfield currently shares with many suburban cities of too little tax base and too much infrastructure demand. Walkable greenway communities like Con ^-albs still more than carp- their own load.