"Mini-Renaissance" to be born in Wasilla?

WASILLA -- The team of eight expert architects who spent last week assessing the potential uses of the 7.5 acres located between the Wasilla post office and Wasilla Middle School presented their findings to the Board of Directors of Valley Residential Services Friday. The resulting plans, which met the board's approval, are the fruits of an intense architectural brainstorming session called a charrette.

The tentative plans show a mixed residential and commercial area called "Yenlo Square," named after the nearby Yenlo Street, which the plan calls to have extended.

The team made provisions for a three-story clubhouse, a three-story senior center with a large sun deck and greenhouse, along with numerous independent living units combined with commercial development, all concentrated within the given 7.5 acres. However, the team also worked to combat possible overcrowding within the area through an emphasis on open spaces and public recreation areas. The focus throughout was on developments that would maximally benefit the city of Wasilla.

"This is 180 degrees opposite to a closed or gated community," said Philip Bess, who headed the design team.

In addition to planning for the site, the team made numerous suggestions for the entire surrounding area in Wasilla, particularly the pedestrian-unfriendly Bogard Road. "Our hope and intention is that Bogard will become both safer and more beautiful," Bess said.

Much of the traffic planning was performed by Peter Swift, a civil engineer and traffic and parking consultant from Colorado.

"We want to really change the way that development is perceived here," Swift said. "Perhaps this will bring the great beauty of civic art back into the public sphere."

Swift recommended, among other things, replacing the traffic lights near the high school and at the intersection of Bogard and Main Street with roundabouts, circular traffic patterns that manage intersections more safely and efficiently.

The plan also calls for the Alaska Food Pantry and the Treasure Loft, both organizations affiliated with the nearby Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, to move into expanded new locations on the property. The team suggested that the church negotiate a partnership with Ben & Jerry's, which often promotes nonprofit organizations by providing ice cream to these organizations at cost.

The team was able to do so much with only a small area by building vertically rather than horizontally; by designing a building with a parking garage in the basement, for example, or an antique store with loft apartments situated above it. These different building varieties depend on each other for survival; a commercial establishment would rely on its surrounding residential development for patrons, while a public-use building such as the clubhouse would be funded by renting out apartments in its upper story.

"This is sort of a different thing for Alaska, perhaps the first traditional neighborhood design that's ever been done up here," said Andrew von Maur, an assistant professor at Andrews University.

"We're part of a movement that's trying to restore the idea in Americans' minds that towns can be beautiful places," von Maur, who drew up the majority

of the sketches for the

charrette, added.

Von Maur has been working on charrettes with Bess since 1998, and most recently completed a redesigning project in Greensboro, N.C.

Swift said Wasilla poses many obstacles to traditional city planning owing in no small part to its tremendous amount of urban sprawl and no easily recognizable town center. However, he is unperturbed by Yenlo Square's radical difference from the design of the rest of Wasilla.

"If done properly, this will be the DNA for a new urban creature, a true celebration of urban life in the community."

Von Maur also has high hopes for the transformative potential of the charrette's plan.

"Our hope is that this sparks a sort of mini-Renaissance in Wasilla," he said.

Contact Daniel Spoth at daniel.spoth@frontiersman.com.