The mall is surrounded by surface parking but not for long. Multiple office, condo, and hotel towers will replace the surrounding parking lots. Parking structures will replace the former lots. These will be some of the tallest buildings in the city at 12 stories and will house retail, housing, and office in one building.

The city says it will only build up to 12 stories for now but the building heights are sure to change in the future surpassing 12 stories, going as high as 20. The city also said that our full build-out population would be 150, 000 and as of today it is 175,000. The city website says the city is nearing 200,000. I knew they were giving us the low ball number. I predict the city gets up to a quarter million souls.

Anyways back to the mixed use buildings. These buildings will include mixed uses such as: large corporate headquarters, luxury condos, and even a five star hotel. The high end shops along both main streets will add five levels of luxury condos above. Though the mall already has three major department stores, another is also planned for the future phase. There is a cultural center, a library, a movie theater, three department stores, plazas, fountains, gardens, parkways, stunning vistas, lighting, benches everywhere, trashcans, ashtrays, and the only Bass Pro Shop in California. During Christmas there is a 100 ft Christmas Tree in the middle of Chaffey Square.

Last time I shopped there I was waiting outside one of the shops having a smoke. I looked around at the beyond charming town square and realized that Rancho Cucamonga has a scaled down European style downtown. I was very proud. This is the kind of development that will be around in a hundred years with minimal updating.

http://www.victoriagardensie.com

Each cost is paid for in different ways in different places. Typically mosquito spraying (a shared concern) is paid for through general fund taxation (since it’s important that it be dealt with at the community scale), whereas toilet flushes are paid with one’s individual water / sewer bill (the rest of us don’t care if your toilet doesn’t flush –to a point, that is). Policing is paid through general fund taxation, and schools through general fund taxation with some special funds often voted in on top of a base. There are so many local variables that it’s impossible to model the revenue side of this equation in any consistent way.

That said, our sense is that with the huge disparity in the revenue numbers (you need to see these figures charted; the difference is not subtle, it’s huge), there are likely to be few factors other than schools that would likely overcome the difference. Indeed, schools will show far greater costs in suburban areas where there tends to be a lot more families with children, tipping the scales further in favor of mixed-use places in a “downtown” location.

But don’t take these examples to the bank. Our purpose here is not to pursue one form of development at the expense of others, as many communities do in an attempt to balance their budgets

Reply from Citiwire Management: There was a major presentation on the topic at a meeting of the Citistates Group in Red Wing. Otherwise no connection.

Regarding your assumption on cost, from a physical standpoint, the infrastructure (pipes, asphalt, concrete, wires) hit more people with less actual infrastructure when you consider density. As an extreme example, think of a mile of pipe in Manhattan vs. a mile of pipe in suburban Tysons Corners. The diameters may be different, but from a service aspect, you hit more people per mile with the same trench.

“Demand” is just part of the issue, the bigger ticket item is the delivery system of that demand (ie: more land, area, lane miles, etc. to reach the same level of service) vs. the extra cost in burying a wider pipe. That’s a simple way of thinking about it, but a more detailed report was created by the Florida Dept. of Community Affairs back in the eighties. They ran the numbers for various rates of density and found that the difference between a ‘scattered’ suburban form and a ‘compact’ urban form was (inflation adjusted) $28k and $16k, respectively for “cost of public infrastructure per dwelling unit”. I hope this helps.
Joe Minicozzi, AICP