Future south Bossier may follow 'new urbanism' designs

• New Urbanism is aimed at rebuilding municipal districts in the fashion of many pre-automobile towns.
• Groundbreaking on Walker Place Development expected within 12 to 24 months.

It was time to decommission the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport in downtown Austin, Texas, and city planners saw an opportunity to revitalize a neglected part of town.

The result was the opening of the Mueller Community, a liveable, walkable, shoppable, recreation-and-entertainment-focused development that reflected a municipal growth trend sweeping the country — and it could be a model to follow in redeveloping south Bossier City.

The concept is called New Urbanism, a design movement aimed at rebuilding municipal districts in the fashion of many pre-automobile American towns.

"It's the antithesis of urban sprawl," said Greg Weaver, who leads the Mueller redevelopment project. "It's a common trend across the country. More people want to live in an urban setting where they can walk to shops, where their kids can walk or ride their bikes to school safely and have it all in one community."

The Mueller Community master plan, developed in 2000, saw groundbreaking in 2005. The first retailer took up residence there in early 2007, and the children's hospital opened that same year.

Now the 711-acre community is on its way to being home to nearly 13,000 residents, 13,000 employees, four million square feet of retail space, 5,700 homes and 140 acres of open public areas and parks. Twenty-five percent of the homes there are classified as affordable living, and builders focus on LEED certification and sustainability efforts.

The development revitalized life in that part of Austin. Linc Coleman, president of U.L. Coleman Companies, said in August he expects a groundbreaking on what could be the anchor tenant for south Bossier City's own redevelopment within 12 to 24 months.

Implications for south Bossier

As Bossier City and U.L. Coleman companies march forward on fulfilling goals laid down in a post-lawsuit agreement concerning the buildout of the Walker Place Development, eyes have turned to the surrounding community and what it could look like in 20 years.

"You wouldn't want to put it in the New Urbanism box alone, but it was certainly one of our underlying themes," said Todd Meyer, a representative of SWA Group, hired as part of the settlement to plan a new south Bossier City.

In a pair of public meetings to explain the SWA Group findings, Meyer described scenes that are a far cry from the area's current state — wide pathways lined with green spaces, boutique retail investments, sprawling parks with integrated water features and aesthetics that let people know they've arrived in south Bossier.

"We want to create that social heart of Bossier," Meyer said. "We're less interested in prescribing land use and more interested in form and spatial quality."

SWA Group has presented early plans to U.L. Coleman and Bossier City offering a grand — for many, almost unbelievable — future. That was exactly the place Austin began when imagining Mueller, Weaver said.

He said the city council first made a decision on goals. Economic development, affordable housing and sustainability were just some of those lofty, nebulous choices.

And it was the surrounding neighborhoods that really embraced the early plans, he said. Those areas long had been considered "on the wrong side of the tracks" and the closure of the noisy airport increased their livability, Weaver said.

Getting the buy-in from the business community was a slower process.

"We were selling plans and pretty pictures, but that was paper, not reality. At first we couldn't even get meetings with these retailers," Weaver said. "There was a tipping point somewhere along the way. Now we have momentum."

The hospital proved to be a major win, he said, because its brought hundreds of employees to the area every day. Once one business took the bait more followed, leading to the eventual inclusion of big box stores such as Home Depot and retailers such as Old Navy.

South Bossier City doesn't have a great shot to draw retailers already set up in north Bossier City or on Youree Drive across the river, but it does have a chance to put a plug in its "retail leakage," Meyer said.

The money south Bossier residents spend on groceries, clothes and dining could be kept in the community through more neighborhood-oriented shops — and a comfortable place to walk, shop and meet friends could bring outside dollars in.

But the focus remains on short-term thinking, and that thinking is dedicated to public sector investment, Meyer said.

Walker Place Park is under construction and soon a pedestrian bridge over Arthur Ray Teague Parkway will offer an easier connection to the riverfront, which Meyer said should be crucial to any redevelopment of the city. Improving lighting along Barksdale Boulevard, improving streetscapes with greenery and developing signage will all fit a scheme of making the city more attractive for investment.

As Austin invested in Mueller and amenities grew around the property, Weaver said property values began to rise. The developers intermixed market-value and affordable housing units limiting the effects of gentrification.

Challenges moving forward

How much money is available will remain the limiting factor on early city investment, Bossier City special projects director Pam Glorioso said. But rezoning parts of the area and updating architectural standards could serve as a cheap, early try at transforming south Bossier City over time.

"The buy-in is going to come from when the projects are built and the younger people start living in it and working in it and stopping at it, just as south Shreveport developed over the years. It was cotton fields. Now you have an economic catalyst in south Shreveport with shopping Meccas on every corner. Not that we'll see that in south Bossier to that extreme, but we hope the retail that develops there will be a drawing point," Glorioso said.

But Mueller has an advantage — it's city-owned property.

The Walker Place Development could take as many as 10 years from groundbreaking to fully build out, U.L. Coleman Development Manager Cole Guthrie said in June. The firm is being cautious moving forward, Guthrie said.

Glorioso said the development would be the anchor for any future in line with SWA Group's proposals.

"It all came about by the Walker Place Project," Glorioso said. "Even the streetscapes, hopefully items like that will tie into what Walker Place does when they start up. A lot of the plan hinges on when Walker Place will begin. It's the catalyst that will crank it all up."

New Urbanist communities

Muller Community: Austin, Texas.

Seaside: Unincorporated Florida (between Panama City Beach and Destin).

Stapleton International Airport: Denver, Colorado.

Uptown: Dallas, Texas.

New Town: St. Charles, Missouri.

The Cotton District: Starkville, Mississippi.