Fix it now

Alex Pickett interviewed Taryn Sabia, the co-founder of Tampa’s Urban Charrette, for this week’s print edition.  Sabia, 29, and fellow architect Adam Fritz have held a series of workshops on how to improve Tampa’s urban design, transit systems and overall sustainability. These workshops, or “charrettes,” have brought together a broad range of stakeholders, including Tampa city councilmembers Linda Saul-Sena and John Dingfelder, the Hillsborough County Planning Commission, University of South Florida professors, Tampa Bay Builders Association members and developers like Daren Booth (of The Heights project) and Greg Minder (of SkyPoint). Read the entire interview here.

CL: How do you get the masses excited about sustainability and urban design?

Sabia: We try to show examples where great projects have been done in other places. Giving people a visual definition of what density is, because density is a very difficult concept to understand. … You want people to see that if you put density in particular places — and you do it purposely and if it’s designed well — then great things can happen. You can start to have vibrant centers for your neighborhood. Your neighborhood is actually protected, because you’re putting density where it belongs. You’re grouping density in areas to support retail, shops and restaurants. You need a certain amount of density in order to support a certain amount of retail. If it’s done well, it can be a really wonderful thing for neighborhoods. It’s something that attracts people from other places but also gives the neighborhood itself an area where people can meet, gather, do things and not have to drive a half hour outside of their neighborhood to get the things they need.

Does this mean you want to stack us all in little apartments downtown?

The idea is that we don’t make everyone do that, but that we provide choices. We’re not suggesting that everyone has to live in small apartments and not have their suburban homes. It’s not about one or the other; it’s about accommodating all of them and connecting all of them, so people aren’t so separated.

It’s also about managing our growth for the future. Because, inevitably, density is coming. People are coming, and large numbers of them. We need to think about how we’re going to deal with that.

What should we focus on first?

Transit is absolutely at the forefront. TBARTA [Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority] has just started doing public workshops. … It is so vital that people get out and speak, let their voice be heard and write letters to the TBARTA board and city council members. … People look and say, “Well, that is the 2050 plan.” But it’s not. We could have these things in 10 years if we push and fight for them. Let our elected officials know that we not only support it, that we support it now.

Read the entire interview here.

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InTown Homes‘ first big dream was to revive West Tampa to its glory days as a major urban destination. Now the developer is adding to that lofty goal the ability to cut its residents’ carbon footprints.

InTown, the brainchild of former Hillsborough County Commissioner Ed Turanchik and his business partner Teresa Caddick, is unveiling a new design for its affordable homes this week, a Mediterranean-style home that cuts energy use by 25-50 percent.

“We think this is an important milestone in housing in the Bay area as it shows that environmentally sound, energy efficient workforce housing can be built at an attainable price,” Turanchik said last week. The price tag for the new MoMed model: $194,000, $199,000 or $204,000, depending on how many energy-saving features you want. He projects that a monthly electric bill for the middle-priced model will be about $65. And then there’s the environmental savings: an annual reduction of carbon emissions of 5.4 tons, 52 pounds of sulphur dioxide and nearly 30 pounds of nitrogen oxide. Some of the housing materials (including the carpeting) are made from recycled products, but the real savings come from the MoMed’s small and flat roof, which is painted white to reflect sunlight and offers a smaller surface to heat than conventional housing.

“When gas gets up to $4 a gallon, this urban neighborhood is going to look even more attractive,” Turanchik said. The first MoMed, in fact, has already been sold to an empty-nester couple from Davis Islands who wanted lower taxes, insurance bills and energy costs.

InTown has survived the housing slump, putting 35 new homes into West Tampa, which at its height in the early 20th century was the fifth largest city in Florida. Turanchik insisted on using urban designs rather than city-mandated suburban guidelines that pushed homes farther back from sidewalks.

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