The main goal our group had going into the mid review was getting feedback on the two site schemes we produced.  I think we were given some really good suggestions, however the comments brought up a lot more questions as well.  The main difference between our two schemes was the parking concept.  One had the parking along the outside of the site; the other had it in the middle.  Some of the comments/suggestions we received were:

• Going up to three stories in some places to break up massing and relate to existing market-rate housing
• Create a bicycle loop within the site for little kids
• Use storm water swales in awkward leftover or corner spaces
• Look at using a combination of the two schemes

During the review, the suggestion was brought up to take away some the restraints on the site to make a more ideal plan.  Some of these restraints are connections to private streets and property to better connect our site to main streets.  I agree that the site might be more successful without these constraints so the question now is should I move forward on a scheme our group had already come up with or try and rework the site with the new connections.  How much should I design for the ideal site versus what could realistically happen?  I haven’t decided on the direction I’m going to take yet, but I probably will do some quick site schemes that include the adjacent properties and see if they start to go anywhere.