Home > Resource Center > In the News Home > Greenbelt Alliance in the News

Greenbelt Alliance In the News

October 1 , 2008

Greenbelt Alliance promotes potential of 'Smart Infill'

Dane Fifita lives at an infill housing development called Providence Walk, which is appropriate given what he often finds himself doing -- walking.

Texas Street, with its stores and strip malls, and the farmers market are within walking distance. There is no need to drive and pay expensive gas prices, especially when walking is good exercise.

'This is a good, convenient place,' said Fifita, who lives with his cousin.

The Greenbelt Alliance is making a renewed push for such developments by releasing a report today called 'Smart Infill.' Providence Walk near the intersection of Travis Boulevard and North Texas Street is among the Bay Area projects pictured inside.

A housing market downturn gives Bay Area leaders breathing room to think about future development patterns, said Elizabeth Stampe of the alliance, which is based in San Francisco and has a Fairfield office.

'If you're not being inundated with development proposals, it's kind of good time to think of where you want to be when you are,' Stampe said.

Infill development consists of building high-density housing in the older parts of a city, where stores and bus stops are common. It is a move away from what the Greenbelt Alliance sees as open-space-gobbling 'sprawl' -- the typical subdivision in which residents must drive to run errands.

Fairfield took a big step toward infill growth in 2001 when the City Council revamped the General Plan, removing large growth areas targeted for thousands of homes near Travis Air Force Base and in Green Valley. Since then, some infill ideas have worked and others have failed.

Providence Walk worked out. Fairfield's Redevelopment Agency spent several million dollars clearing land of a blighted, crime-infested trailer park and apartments. In 2004, 107 two-story, detached condominiums were built.

But a push to turn the deteriorating Mission Village shopping center on North Texas Street into a smart growth showplace with homes, offices and businesses failed. The property owner balked after considering the mixed-use idea. The city approved a Wal-Mart Supercenter for the site.

With the Mission Village project, some residents in nearby neighborhoods objected to the prospect of living near apartments. Such opposition often arises to infill development.

'There are all kinds of challenges,' Mayor Harry Price said. 'But the benefits continue to accrue.'

Fairfield's push to revitalize the 5-mile stretch of West Texas, Texas and North Texas streets is an opportunity for infill development, Price said. A city market analysis calls infill housing there a promising possibility.

Having more people living in the city's core means more people using businesses and a greater sense of vibrancy, Price said.

###