11-16-2010, 09:06 AM
Glen, as always you have made some great points with your truly fantastic wit and marvelous sense of humor. This thread has been very exciting for me to read because I'm truly interested in people's ideas about "landscaping" and development.
The thing that keeps coming into my mind is that Woodland Center IS landscaped.
The County requires developers to install landscaping for commercial developments per Rule 17 in their Rules and Procedures. (You can find that on the Hi Co planning website if you wanna know)
In theory these rules are pretty progressive. Their stated purpose includes buffering roadways and adjacent property from noise and visual impacts, enhancing streetscapes by maintaining a human scale and promoting ecological and cultural values. Some of these rules are very specific, like you gotta plant 1 tree per 12 parking spaces. But in the end, what actually gets designed and installed may fulfill one person's interpretation of the rules but not another's.
In fact, many, if not most of the young plants installed there in the parking lot and along the buildings are native to Hawai'i. But none of them will ever "hide" the very large boxes that could be anywhere USA.
Honestly, that would be a difficult task to accomplish for a shopping center of this size, and on top of that developers don't want to hide their buildings at all. They want them to be easily seen so that a steady flow of customers will keep the rents paid on time. Plus landscaping costs money and takes up valuable land that could be used for parking, signage etc.
No, it doesn't have to be this way, but it won't ever change unless there are clear guidelines that reflect the vision of the community and community input in the design process.
I also feel that the new buildings don't seem to really "fit" the image of Pahoa Town, but as Rob, Bob and others bring up, if there are no design standards in place anything goes, and more often than not the result is...well, fugly.
The thing that keeps coming into my mind is that Woodland Center IS landscaped.
The County requires developers to install landscaping for commercial developments per Rule 17 in their Rules and Procedures. (You can find that on the Hi Co planning website if you wanna know)
In theory these rules are pretty progressive. Their stated purpose includes buffering roadways and adjacent property from noise and visual impacts, enhancing streetscapes by maintaining a human scale and promoting ecological and cultural values. Some of these rules are very specific, like you gotta plant 1 tree per 12 parking spaces. But in the end, what actually gets designed and installed may fulfill one person's interpretation of the rules but not another's.
In fact, many, if not most of the young plants installed there in the parking lot and along the buildings are native to Hawai'i. But none of them will ever "hide" the very large boxes that could be anywhere USA.
Honestly, that would be a difficult task to accomplish for a shopping center of this size, and on top of that developers don't want to hide their buildings at all. They want them to be easily seen so that a steady flow of customers will keep the rents paid on time. Plus landscaping costs money and takes up valuable land that could be used for parking, signage etc.
No, it doesn't have to be this way, but it won't ever change unless there are clear guidelines that reflect the vision of the community and community input in the design process.
I also feel that the new buildings don't seem to really "fit" the image of Pahoa Town, but as Rob, Bob and others bring up, if there are no design standards in place anything goes, and more often than not the result is...well, fugly.
Uluhe Design
Native Landscape Design
uluhedesign@yahoo.com
Native Landscape Design
uluhedesign@yahoo.com