In the Lakeland of the future, city leaders would love for everyone to live within walking or bicycling distance of a coffee shop or corner store. The concept is called “neighborhood retail” and it’s part of a broader push to bring amenities closer to residential areas so people don’t have to drive as far.
City commissioners heard about it at a strategic planning workshop on Monday. Community and Economic Development Director Brian Rewis said instead of building more lane miles to ease traffic congestion, it would be better to “get people closer to the things they want and need.”
No need to drive: With more local shops and amenities, people might not have to get in a car and drive. Or if they did, it would be a short trip. “That’s how we ease the transportation impacts of this growth,” Rewis said.
Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley agreed. “If anybody thinks that more pavement’s the answer, you should go to Atlanta. They’ve paved over everything, and it’s still not the answer.”
Rethinking zoning: Rewis noted that the city doesn’t control where private businesses choose to establish stores, but it can offer incentives and remove barriers. One potential barrier is how the city zones land.
Currently, every parcel of land in Lakeland is zoned for distinct uses like “commercial,” “residential,” “industrial,” “agricultural” and so forth. Teresa Maio, assistant director of Community and Economic Development, said Lakeland might want to consider a new category that mixes offices, small-scale retail and homes.
The missing middle: Commissioners also heard about the “missing middle” in Lakeland’s residential development. The term refers to housing that is smaller than an apartment complex but slightly more dense than single-family homes. Examples include townhouses, duplexes, fourplexes and courtyard buildings.
Maio showed commissioners a stately building at 950 S. Tennessee Ave. that has four units and a Craftsman-style building at East Park Street and South Tennessee Avenue that has three units. She said that type of construction is not widely available in Lakeland, but it can keep a neighborhood’s character intact while increasing density. It can also smooth the sometimes abrupt transitions between single-family homes and apartment complexes.
What’s next: Monday’s morning and afternoon strategic planning sessions were recorded. Today’s session runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Hollingsworth Room at the RP Funding Center.
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Missing middle housing sounds like a good idea, assuming they are not priced $2,000 and up. That is definitely NOT the answer!