Specific and Area Plans

Raimi and Associates' diverse specific and area plan work relies on community involvement and close coordination with city staff. All of our planning work emphasizes urban design and seeks to enhance the “triple bottom line” of environmental, social and economic sustainability. Many of our specific and area plans take a form-based approach, describing the vision for an area, identifying the range of applicable uses and building types for each district within an area, and then crafting development standards by building type. We specialize in working within an expedited timeframe, which allows the project to move quickly into the entitlement or adoption process.

A representation of our work is described below. Projects marked with an asterisk (*) were completed by a R+A team member before joining the firm.

Design for Development for Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island

San Francisco, CA

Raimi + Associates completed a technical review and revision of the Design for Development for Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island, as a subconsultant to the design firm of Perkins + Will. A former Navy base within San Francisco Bay, Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands represent one the largest, most visible, and most centrally located redevelopment opportunities remaining within the City and the entire Bay Area. The vision presented in the Design for Development – which includes standards and guidelines for open space, infrastructure, street design, parking, urban design, and architecture – is intended to achieve LEED-ND certification and be an exemplar of sustainable neighborhood development. The design includes a multi-modal ferry terminal, rigorous green building requirements, extensive open space, building reuse, and urban design conducive to walkability. Raimi + Associates’ comprehensive revision and re-write of the document emphasized clarity, consistency, and best practices in sustainability and urban design. This included coordinating the efforts of a diverse group of contributors, including landscape architects, urban designers, architects, graphic designers, the developer, and the City. The resulting public draft of the Design for Development will be taken up by the Board of Supervisors in late summer 2010.

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Moreno Valley Alessandro Boulevard Corridor

SCAG Compass Demonstration Project, City of Moreno Valley

Raimi + Associates is working on a Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Demonstration Project for the City of Moreno Valley, along a key 5-mile stretch of the Alessandro Boulevard Corridor. The east end of the Corridor will be the site of a future Metro Station, and R + A has been brought in to create strong connection between the future rail station and development along the corridor. As part of this process, R+A has provided the City with health and sustainability indicators for the corridor, and will be conducting a greenhouse gas emissions analysis of alternative scenarios. After a multi-tiered public input process, R+A will develop for the City with a form-based code framework of the preferred growth alternative.

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Florence-Firestone Vision Plan

Los Angeles County, CA

Florence-Firestone is an area of unincorporated Los Angeles County, which has several challenges including relatively high poverty and unemployment, deteriorated public infrastructure and streetscapes, and blight. R+A worked closely with the County staff and an advisory group of related agencies to engage the community in the visioning process. The process included several workshops in which community members have identified key issues and challenges for the area, prioritized the types of changes they would like to see take place in their community and developed a clear vision for the future of Florence-Firestone. R+A drafted a Vision Plan for the community, which is actively utilized by the County and assisted the County in obtaining two state grants for the Florence-Firestone community--one for economic analysis and one for a full community plan. The Florence-Firestone Vision Plan received an Award of Excellence from SCAG in 2010.

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El Paso Downtown Plan

El Paso, TX, as a subconsultant to SMWM

Raimi + Associates assisted SMWM with the formulation and drafting of the downtown plan for El Paso, Texas. The firm advanced a form-based approach to the plan, describing the vision for each development district, identifying the range of applicable uses and building types for each district and then crafting development standards by building type.

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Hercules Historic Sub-District Plan

City of Hercules, CA

As part of its role as Adjunct Planner for the City of Hercules, Raimi + Associates led the process to adopt the Hercules Historic Sub-District Plan. The form-based plan regulates development for the Masonic Properties parcels, a portion of the historic waterfront area of Hercules. It provides use and form regulations, a parking management plan, sustainability and historic preservation guidelines, and other development controls.

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Hercules New Town Center

City of Hercules, CA

As part of the role of Adjunct Planner for the City of Hercules, Raimi + Associates served as the staff lead on developing a new town center for the city. The vision for the project is to create a new, walkable, mixed use area on 35 acres of vacant and underutilized land in the heart of the city. At buildout, the project will contain over 1,600 units and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail and commercial space. Raimi + Associates worked closely with city staff, the developer and a team of consultants, to help shepherd the plan toward the entitlement process.

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Hunters Point Shipyard Development Concept*

San Francisco, CA for Lennar/BVHP

Matt Raimi served as lead planner and project manager for planning work on the Hunters Point Shipyard Project between 1999 and 2002. Over the next 20 years, Hunters Point Shipyard, a 500-acre former Naval Base in the southeast corner of San Francisco, will be transformed from an underutilized, contaminated industrial area into a new, vibrant mixed-use waterfront community. The plan for the site, which incorporates the principles of sustainable development, calls for the affordable housing, museums celebrating the history and heritage of the local community, job training centers, parks, plazas, an artist community, and high-tech jobs. Mr. Raimi's management work included assisting with a Preliminary Development Concept for the site, organizing public meetings, overseeing site test fits, creating detailed phasing and implementation plans, and crafting a preliminary affordable housing plan.

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Oakland Army Base Pre-Development Planning*

City of Oakland + Oakland Base Reuse Authority, CA

Matt Raimi served as the project manager and lead planner on this project to develop feasible site alternatives for the former Oakland Army Base, a 200-acre site located at the foot of the San Francisco Bay Bridge and adjacent to the Port of Oakland. During the four-month, fast-tracked project, the team of planners, designers and economists led by Mr. Raimi developed a detailed opportunities and constraints report, interviewed key stakeholders including the Mayor of Oakland and several members of the City Council, developed site evaluation criteria based on the 3 “Es” of sustainable development (environment, economy and equity) and made dozens of presentations to community interest groups. Finally, the team developed and analyzed four site alternatives that included a movie/entertainment complex, industrial uses that supported the Port of Oakland and a retail district. During the process, the City Council entered into exclusive negotiation agreements to develop a movie/theme park/retail district and a logistics/distribution district.

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Purple Belt Open Space Plan*

City of Paso Robles, CA as a subconsultant to Economic and Planning Systems

Matt Raimi served as project manager in developing an open space plan for the City of Paso Robles. Located in San Luis Obispo County on the Central Coast of California, Paso Robles and its environs are home to over 90 vintners and 200 vineyards. The region has become one of the premier wine-producing regions in the country and the wine business is a source of pride, identity and economic life for residents of Paso Robles. In an effort to preserve these qualities, the EPS team was hired by the City to develop strategies for preserving open space around the city in a “purple belt” – so named because of the area’s reputation for zinfandel grapes. The team identified a range of funding sources and implementation strategies, worked with stakeholders to select the preferred methods of preservation and developed land-preservation priorities based on desired economic, environmental and social outcomes. The city plans to adopt the plan in late 2007 and move forward with finding funding sources and regulatory tools to create the purple belt.

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