Placer Ranch and Smart Growth

Placer Ranch's developers are proponents of "smart growth" principles, which seek to maintain connections between development and quality of life. Smart growth is generally more village-centered, oriented toward easy pedestrian and transit options, and has a mix of housing, commercial and retail uses. Smart growth development also preserves open space and includes parks and other environmental amenities in the planning process.

Smart Growth Principles

- Create a Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
- Create Walkable Neighborhoods
- Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration
- Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place
- Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective
- Mix Land Uses
- Preserve Open Space and Critical Environmental Areas
- Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices
- Take Advantage of Compact Building Design

Smart Growth Communities

We’ve shared information in the past about Smart Growth and how the plans for Placer Ranch follow Smart Growth principles. We’ve also talked about healthy, complete communities and what elements those include. We feel these two terms – Smart Growth and complete communities – essentially mean the same thing, and they represent what Placer Ranch will bring to Placer County.


President Holly Tiche

 

Placer Ranch will bring jobs, higher education and a variety of home types to the area. Unlike many new communities, Placer Ranch is not a housing development with some supporting retail stores. It is first and foremost an employment center and university base, with housing to support the businesses and University.

We believe in creating a vibrant community with a variety of elements and users, including families, single professionals, students, teachers, and retail and office employees. We want to encourage the “creative culture” that has created wonderful, energetic communities across the country. We want to create and maintain fun, functional public spaces where people will interact and get to know their neighbors.

We want to support and encourage small retail stores and local merchants. We want to provide a place for long-standing businesses to continue to flourish, and a place for new businesses to put down roots. We want to establish a neighborly feeling in Placer Ranch, encouraging inclusiveness and distinctiveness in the overall community and in each district.

As a resident of Placer County for nearly two decades, I appreciate overall concerns about traffic resulting from proposed growth throughout our region. Our land plan and circulation have been designed to maximize opportunities to reduce impacts. Single-family homes are proposed adjacent to Roseville’s neighborhoods at our southern boundary. Walkability, alternative transportation choices and a wide variety of attainable housing to meet the needs of future employees within our plan area will all help reduce trips. New major thoroughfares and regional solutions such as Placer Parkway will also help our region maintain its much-touted quality of life.

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Pedestrian-First Design

 Placer Ranch has 26 miles of walking and bicycling trails. Many of the trails are adjacent to or travel through parks and open space, and are designed to connect with transit and road facilities. This makes it easy for people, whether residents, employees or students, to enjoy their time outdoors and travel from one place to another without the hassles of auto traffic.

Placer Ranch has been designed with pedestrians in mind. In fact, according to Vice President of Development Eric Bryant, all decisions were made with pedestrian traffic as the priority. “If there was a question where one answer meant it would be less pedestrian-friendly, we went with the pedestrian-focused solution,” said Bryant.

Walkability is an important Smart Growth principle and a concept that has existed for years. Communities across the U.S. and overseas have traditionally been designed to encourage pedestrian traffic – walking or bicycling from home to work, from work to school, and from school to outdoor activities.

 


Mixed Use Concepts

 It may be an obvious statement, but one size doesn’t fit all. Everyone has different preferences, especially when it comes to their home. Single professionals or retirees may prefer a low-maintenance condo, while families may prefer a house with a backyard. Placer Ranch will offer a variety of housing options to make it easy for everyone to find the kind of home they want.

One way to build vibrant communities is to combine housing and commercial uses, creating a mixed use neighborhood. This could mean building condos and lofts over shops and restaurants in a downtown area, creating a sense of energy. When more ‘uses’ are located near each other, there is more activity and life in an area. And it’s always a good idea to locate goods and services people frequently use near the places they live and work.

Creating a range of housing choices, like those found in mixed use design, is a key Smart Growth principle. It helps ensure a jobs-to-housing balance, gives students the opportunity to live on or off campus, encourages pedestrian and transit traffic while reducing the impacts of auto traffic, and creates a greater sense of community.