“I seem to see one glaring error already in the planning of Creative Village …”
– BUNGALOWER READER

We received the following message from a Bungalower reader who wished to remain anonymous, concerning the Creative Village development in Downtown Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood.

” … In a development advertised as future-oriented and who’s first tenants will be college students, I fail to see the reasoning behind including UNprotected bike lanes on the new Linvingston and Terry alignments. Project DTO showed the advantages to protected bike lanes and even included them in the proposed improvements to Robinson. They also missed the opportunity for the first protected bike lane intersection in Florida. Why did the development committee not include the above modern features of a complete street?”

We reached out to the Creative Village development team to see what they had to share.
“It is good to see people asking questions when it comes to development! An important thing to keep in mind is the infrastructure present in Creative Village right now was not subject to the Creative Village Development Review Committee (with the exception of the Livingston Street extension in which the City of Orlando is the project planner). Also, Creative Village is in the infancy of development, but as new projects come to life there will be emphasis on smart, safe and flexible design … The Facebook comments about protected versus unprotected bike lanes are not totally accurate. There is not consensus on this issue. As the project moves forward, you will see these items being integrated into the design and development at Creative Village.”
The City of Orlando has established a Creative Village Development Review Committee (CVDRC) that is working in concert with the Master Developer and the the development team, as the project moves forward, and they have assured us that they are looking to improve design features as Creative Village takes shape.
To do that, they have created three separate planning documents governing streetscape, mobility, and public art. The Streetscape Guidelines and Mobility Plan have already been approved by the CVDRC, and we have embedded them below.

 

The following Mobility Plan was submitted to, and approved by, the Creative Village Development Review Committee in April, 2017.

Despite the above quotes, Page 26, Section 4.2, which specifically deals with future bicycle infrastructure, calls for the consideration of buffered/separated bike lanes, at least to connect to the development’s Central Park. Other on-campus cycling seems to be relegated to the public right-of-way and existing routes that lead to Creative Village.

Other cycle-friendly strategies include:

  • Installing bike share stations
  • Wayfinding signage and technology
  • Secure bicycle parking
  • Provide bicycle repair services
  • Bicycle detection at all traffic signals to facilitate movement

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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