It was quite a park for an arena replacement, since all the streets have been straightened out and changed around slightly. But they did have a detail of the new Vista Park. It has a couple entry ways, some changes in elevation, an ampitheater, a "technology walk" with some sort of Sac tech history displays, and a whole lot of trees to block out the water treatment facility behind it. Looked nice actually - quite big, but it wasn't just a huge patch of lawn.
They did have some slick 3D conceptual renderings of all the blocks and the various building massing. It really gives an idea of how flipping huge this development is. There isn't a mixed-use block there with a building under 5 stories. The main neighorhood/retail mix was probably between 5-10 stories, with a few 20-25 dispersed throughout. For all the skyscraper fans, the waterfront/hotel district showed about 3 towers that i would guess all to be over 600' tall.
Their inspirational photos to accompany the slides of the new land use plan looked like they fell in love with Denver. I'm not too familiar with that city, but I'm pretty sure I saw a lot of it last night.
They've changed around the parking as well. Now parking will be concentrated to fewer areas, instead of the previous plan to include parking absolutely everywhere. I think that's a good idea, because parking is generally ugly, and it will also get people walking around a bit more.
The EIR is scheduled to be complete later this year, then there will be a little time for more public comment... Then it's a go...
for the next 15-20 years
