Cross-lines

[2012]
Campus Plan

Comprehensive land use plan for the Cross-lines campus in the Armourdale Neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas.

Table of Contents
Purpose and Summary of the Plan ............................................................................................................... 1 Diagnosing..................................................................................................................................................... 2 SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 2 Campus Area Zoning Information .................................................................................................... 4 Campus Area Lynch Map ................................................................................................................. 7 Exploring ................................................................................................................................................. 10 Pattern #15: Neighborhood Boundaries ........................................................................................ 10 Pattern #103: Small Parking Lots ................................................................................................... 10 Pattern #120: Paths and Goals....................................................................................................... 11 Bubble Diagrams ............................................................................................................................ 13 Visioning .................................................................................................................................................. 17 Mission Statement ......................................................................................................................... 17 Goal Setting ............................................................................................................................................. 18 Goals .............................................................................................................................................. 18 Objectives ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Policies ........................................................................................................................................... 19 Plan Making............................................................................................................................................ 20 Future Land Use Plan ..................................................................................................................... 22

Purpose and Summary of the Plan

This plan represents a vision for the Cross-lines campus that will capitalize on its strengths and lead it progressively toward the community center envisioned. It is the right time to find solutions that improve quality of service, protect assets, and strengthen the vitality to create an area in the community which fuels civic, charitable, and social engagement. The Plan reflects the needs and hopes of the organization and outlines a path to nurture a vibrant, healthy community. This is an ambitious plan with recommendations from in-depth analysis and inspiration from other successful ventures in other communities. Cross-lines is an organization that provides vital services to members of the larger Kansas City area community. The need for its services is only growing; that is why this expansion and redevelopment of the campus is so significant. Strengthening and growing the scope of the organization and the campus, as well as the larger Armourdale neighborhood area are parallel needs; the health of the organization, its clientele, and the neighborhood are linked. Diverse challenges face the area and its population and enhancing the sustainability, visibility, and usefulness of the campus will only more greatly serve the population at hand, creating a valuable resource for generations to come.

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Diagnosing

Cross-lines SWOT Analysis

Strengths Desire to expand Already has excess space for additional use Open to innovative approach Good programming track record Existing garden space functional Opportunities Unified campus Increase programming through capacity o Expand annex at food kitchen space Image and Branding Garden: Raise beds, increase sustainability Weaknesses Budget and grant funding constraints Safety and crime concerns Limited usefulness of upstairs church space Parking space Cannot move garden from current location Threats Backlash about warehouse/distribution center in mostly residential area Demolition of historic buildings Cost Desire to hide commodities space Lack of input and buy-in from community

Based upon the analysis of the Cross-Lines campus, there are plenty of opportunities to make this a successful project for the organization. The campus lies in a mostly low-density residential area with some commercial space, primarily on the north side. Because of this low-use land use area, the desire to integrate a warehouse and distribution center on the main campus must be undertaken carefully. Currently, the property maintains its offices in the large church building on the southwest side of the campus, with storage on the far southwest side, in a historic building. There is vacant land on the north east side and a community garden just south of that. The organizations commercial thrift store is on the far southeast side. To the south of the main campus, about one block, there is the building, used as a food kitchen, annex to hold garden tools, and a food pantry. Cross-Lines desires a new thrift store facility and to demolish the existing, historic, two-story building on the property as well as the building currently used for storage. Additionally, the organization would like a new 10,000 square foot facility for the commodities program,
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including warehouse and distribution services. Initially, the demolition of the two-story building after the new, larger facility is completed, making room for expanded programming was the desired plan, however, it is recommended that the organization consider the renovation and maintenance of the current buildings, including the historic structure, which could potentially utilize Historic Tax Credits and be updated to allow for Improvements will not only benefit educational-type programming. This would save the the organization but the Armourdale demolition costs as well as allow the campus to be more neighborhood as a whole sustainable. Additionally, it is recommend that the organization expands and makes improvements to the existing garden space, including raised beds, advanced rain-water collection and irrigation, and incorporating new vegetation that will help with the sustainability of the soil in the area. In order to promote the connectivity and use of the entire campus, it is proposed that Cross-lines create a connected walk/bike pathway that allows for easy, safe access to the entire property. This pathway should include cohesive signage, benches, lighting, and vegetation to promote a sense of place and use of the space as a community center and speak to the population, informing them of the opportunities and resources available throughout the campus. This cohesive path should continue on to the annex to the south of the main campus, ensuring that the food kitchen space feel like a part of the organization as a whole. These kinds of improvements will not only benefit the organization but the Armourdale neighborhood as a whole. At present, there is little community space and this could promote connectivity with the nearby park space and the community at large. This must be done with There is sufficient space on the property for the desired sensitivity to the neighborhood outcomes; however the existing space must be creatively taken into consideration. used. The upstairs of the church, for example, doesnt have the capability to hold heavy storage items. There are programming and use opportunities that the organization must examine in order to get the most out of their investment in the property. One of the biggest challenges to the redevelopment of the property is the integration of the warehouse and distribution services into the main campus, located in a highly residential area. This must be done with aesthetics, practicality, and sensitivity to the neighborhood taken into consideration. Warehouse and industrial use can be successfully integrated into neighborhoods but such endeavors must be done carefully and with longevity in mind. If careful consideration to the existing residents isnt taken, it could negatively impact their quality of life, and create a value conflict for the organization, its mission to care for the community and its residents. If
[3] aesthetics, practicality, and promoting connectivity with the nearby park space and the community at large.

done with environmental impact, access for the community and the served demographic in mind, the impact could be a very positive one for the community at large.

Campus Area Zoning Information

Currently, there are few potential zoning issues for the campus, however, Cross-lines desire for a warehouse on the property may cause some conflict with current zoning codes. At present, the majority of the property, including the vacant land, is zoned for light-to-moderate use in a residential area. Typically, these uses include public-use facilities, not light industrial. Though commercial areas lie within the study area, and there are industrial areas in close proximity, there would have to be a rezoning in order to make a warehouse and distribution facility feasible on the property. It is recommend that the organization request a rezoning to the parcels nearest the commercial and general industrial areas at the north end of the campus, changing the designation from residential (R-1(B)/R-6) to light industrial (M-1) or general industrial (M-2) in order to accommodate the higher uses related to the commodities warehouse. The land use plans set out in the long range plans must be taken into consideration, as the city does not favor implementing new industrial use in primarily residential area.
Cross-lines Campus Area within in the Armourdale Neighborhood, Kansas City, Kansas

Cross-lines Campus Area

[Figure 1]

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Armourdale Neighborhood/Cross-lines Property Zoning Code in Unified Wyandotte County Kansas City, Kansas Zoning Code Name General Permitted Uses
R-1(B) Single Family District New and infill residential development in older areas of the city, compatible with existing residences and reusing vacant parcels Non-single family units including: municipal
facilities, public parks and playgrounds, public utilities facilities, churches, golf courses and club houses, public or private schools, community centers, and non-animal agriculture

R-6

High-rise apartment district

Accommodates apartment development of five stories and higher.

Single-family units, duplexes, apartment buildings from low-height to 5+ stories General goods and services establishments including: car washes,

C-2

General business district

Broad range of retail, wholesale, and service establishments

restaurants, light autorepair, dry cleaning, printing and publishing, and hotels and motels

C-3

Commercial district

Retail and business establishments including those with greater offensive elements including noise, hours or operation, and content Accommodates a broad range of industrial and commercial uses, usually near major roads, highways, rail, or riverfront

General business district establishments as well as:

M-2

General industrial district

M-3

Heavy industrial district

Accommodates uses that are visually and externally adverse and require large amounts of vehicular and or rail activity

auto shops, adult content and entertainment establishments, miniature golf/driving ranges, and selfstorage Manufacturing, production, fabrication, processing, assembling, packaging, sale and rental of lumbar and construction equipment, food, dairy, manufactured homes, recreation vehicles, and chemicals Manufacturing, production, fabrication, processing, assembling, packaging, sale and rental of lumbar and construction equipment, food, dairy, manufactured homes, recreation vehicles, and chemicals
[Figure 2]

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[Figure 3]

The Master Plan for the Armourdale Neighborhood maintains guidelines for future development in the area around the Cross-lines campus. The Plan calls for no new residential in the area, but mostly light commercial usage that would not typically include industrial activity such as the commodities distribution center the organization seeks to build. There are ways in which to make such a facility work in the area however, including adaptive re-use and multipurpose spaces that would accommodate other needs besides the commodities program.

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Campus Area Lynch Map

The Lynch map of the Cross-lines property [see fig.4] shows that because uses on the property are not consolidated there would be much cross traffic in nonsensical patterns, as well as under-utilization of some parts of the campus, assuming that there is significant traffic from transit stops to the campus as well as the food kitchen. By consolidating the uses onto the main campus, unnecessary cross-campus trips could be eliminated and there could be unity in the uses of particular areas. Additionally, by creating cohesion within the uses, there will be an increased sense of place and more community-building activity, with people not having to come and go as frequently. As the staff at Crosslines stated, moving the storage would help open up space for other programming on the main campus. There is also a great deal of vacant land that is highly under-utilized, instead of demolishing the existing buildings, which is costly and wasteful, repurposing those spaces and building new structures on the vacant land would provide for more efficient land use.

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Exploring [via A Pattern Language]

Pattern #15: Neighborhood Boundary

Author Christopher Alexander explains Neighborhood Boundaries as a way for a neighborhood to maintain an identifiable character (47). Alexander suggests finding ways to create barriers to form a unified area. These barriers can be things such as retail districts, changing the grid system, and restricting access. Cross-lines is already in an existing area that has a somewhat defined purpose and role in the community. The organization is in a unique position, however; because the organization maintains a large campus, it can create pseudo-barriers from the rest of the area (mostly retail and light industrial) through land use, programming, and landscaping. It is necessary that Cross-lines creates a cohesive feeling on it campus, that it feels like its own place, while not alienating the community at large. In creating some boundaries for the campus, there will be unified feeling for the organization as well as a sense of place and purpose for the campus, allowing it to become a more prominent and permanent entity in the community.

[Aerial view of Project Downtown Athens in Athens, Georgia. http://protectdowntownathens.com/neighborhood-input/]

Pattern #103: Small Parking Lots

Alexander suggests the use of small parking lots rather than the expansive lots that many communities have become accustomed to; he states, vast parking lots wreck the land for people (241). Instead, Alexander recommends smaller lots, serving five to seven cars each, often surrounded by trees and or garden walls, creating a barrier to cause the lots to be nearly indistinguishable to passersby. In doing so, an area retains its human scale and more natural elements. Because Cross-lines wants to create a greater, more unified campus feeling, it is important that the character and the aesthetic value of the campus not be wrecked but enhanced. The staff noted that they are in need of increased parking availability and suggested one of the now vacant lots be paved and used for parking. At present there are multiple buildings on the campus, each of these could perhaps accommodate a small lot behind it or to its side, easily concealed by both the building and
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suitable landscaping. Alexander even notes that one can, place entrances and exits of the parking lots in such a way that they fit naturally into the pattern of pedestrian movement and lead directlyto the major entrances to individual buildings (243). By taking this smaller, more varied approach, Cross-lines would maintain the natural landscape elements (trees, etc.) that are already in place and preserve the views that are enjoyed from public areas such as the garden.

[A small parking lot in Nagoya, Japan (left) and a sketch of a green parking lot (right). Source: Ito Laboratory, Nagoya Institute of Technology. Akio Onishi, Xin Cao, Takanori Ito, Feng Shi, Hidefumi Imura, Evaluating the potential for urban heat-island mitigation by greening parking lots, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Volume 9, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 323-332, ISSN 1618-8667, 10.1016/j.ufug.2010.06.002. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866710000403)]

[Small urban parking lot. http://thedesignoffice.org/project/parkinglot-painting/]

Pattern # 120: Paths and Goals

Alexander explains the creation of paths and goals as a pathway system that represents the most utilized and intuitive paths between frequented places, areas, or districts. By creating these defined paths, access to, from, and around the area is easier to manage and makes more sense to the user. By implementing a path system within the campus, Cross-lines could encourage more intra-campus interaction, more utilization of the facilities and services, as well as use of the outdoor public space.
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Walking paths would also add to the aesthetic value of the campus, giving it a greater sense of place, utility, and cohesion, all things that would make a more usable, enjoyable space.

[Bastyr University, San Diego http://www.bastyr.edu/public/herb-garden-reflexology-path]

[University of Missouri-Kansas City http://www.midamericamedievalassociation.org/conference.htm]

[University of Missouri-Kansas City http://masterplan.umkc.edu/completed-projects/stanley-durwoodstadium.asp]

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Bubble Diagrams

Standard Suburban Model

The most elemental aspect of the suburban model is the separating of uses; the warehouse and other more industrial uses must be far from the garden, the offices and the commercial spaces. In this model, because of the spatial nature of the campus, the use of blocking landscaping, berms, and buffering elements is vital to maintaining separate land areas for separate aspects of the organizations programming. Sufficient parking for the particular uses is important as well, with less frequent cross-campus trips.
Small Parking Lots and Pathways Model

Parking is a concern for Cross-lines and the implementation of multiple small, easily disguised lots would help alleviate the parking problem as well as maintain the aesthetic appeal of the campus. In addition, the use of a pathway system would allow for more cross-campus walking, negating the effect of having the parking more spread out throughout the area. The pathways will also encourage use of the space for the community at large and make it an asset for the neighborhood.
Mixed Use, Open Space Model

The model suggested for the redevelopment of the campus combines the ideas of small parking lots and pathways with a more mixed-use approach to the existing and new buildings on the property. A greater emphasis on open and community spaces (via the expanded garden, community gathering spaces, and the pathway system) will encourage more use and visibility of the organization. Integrating a new warehouse facility that has space and capacity for other uses (retractable doors, upstairs offices/storage, etc) will allow the facility to serve a greater purpose in the area and for the staff and community, incorporating a more industrial space into the residential area well.

The Filling Station in Kansas City, Missouri utilizes garage doors on the historic reuse coffee shop to enable a flexible indoor/outdoor space

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Visioning

Cross-lines Community Outreach Mission Statement: Provide people affected by poverty with the basic services and opportunities that encourage self-confidence and self-sufficiency. Current Vision Statement: All people in Wyandotte County are empowered to meet their own needs without the reliance on social services. Campus Vision Statement: A cohesive, unified campus and public space that supports itself and fosters hope through more and expanded programming by empowering citizens to achieve healthy, successful lives in a unified and reliable community environment.

The Cross-lines staff, though their first priority is providing services to their clients, seeks a more sophisticated campus on which to do so. It is important that the vision for the future of Cross-lines includes the ideas of community building and engagement. Additionally, because the organization hopes to create a more cohesive, unified campus, and with that, more unified, organized, and expanded programming, the idea of unity is necessary to convey in the updated vision statement. The goals for the campus cannot overshadow the vision and objectives of the organization, however. It is important to find a way to successfully marry the vision the staff has for the structure and physical aspects of the organization with the vision and mission of the vital social services provided to the community by the organization.

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Goal Setting
Goals

Unified campus that fosters a sense of community Increased programming capacity Increased programming for community members Sustainable campus

The goals set for Cross-lines are both feasible and on par for the staffs aspirations for the organization. A unified campus will include not only the physical unity that will come with consolidating all services onto one campus, but one that allows community members to better participate in and around the activities on the campus, creating greater social capital for the neighborhood and its residents. Increased programming and programming capacity are related but not achievable independently. A reorganization and addition of space for classrooms, offices, conference rooms, storage, and other uses will allow for greater quality and greater breadth of programing options for the organization. Additional and refigured space will allow for new programs, more comfortable space for existing programs, and more flexibility in scheduling. The idea of a sustainable campus is a two-fold idea as well; it refers to both the sustainability of the landscape and garden on the campus, as well as the economic and social longevity of the organization and the services it provides for the community. Additionally, by increasing the utility of the garden, more community members may get involved with the organization and grow its scope and range of effect in the area. These goals, though only touching up some of the aspirations of the organization and its staff, are a starting place for the organization that, if realized, will move it, and the community forward.

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Objectives
Increase parking by 50% within one year without paving over any large open spaces on the campus Increase garden output by 45% in two years, utilizing increased bed space, improved irrigation, and community support Implement 1 mile of walking path and outdoor community space throughout the campus

Policies
All new construction must leave 30% green space on the campus and must not include the demolition of historic structures. When seasonally possible, fresh produce served in the food kitchen must come from the garden. Cross-lines must increase community involvement and engagement by creating a space and a need for their presence through programming, events, public space and volunteering opportunities.

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Plan Making

Future Land Use Classifications and Map

The Future Land Use Map utilizes the existing qualities of the campus, integrating the positive elements Cross-lines has incorporated over the years with a new approach that will ensure the most efficient use of space, the best integration of uses and the most communityenhancing and social capital building scenario for the neighborhood at large.

[Pathway System]
The suggested system of pedestrian pathways throughout the campus is a means by which Cross-lines could encourage a multifaceted approach to utilizing the entire campus in one visit as well as foster a sense of community. By connecting the highly-trafficked areas with other under-utilized parts of the campus, Crosslines can increase the visibility of some aspects of its programming. Additionally, creating a public space where community members spend time and become physically active will promote a sense of community and social capital in the neighborhood, solidifying Cross-lines as an important institution.

Community Space IntegrationOpen Space Land Use

Describes the use of open land and pathways as a communitybuilding tool, as well as an effort to remain environmentally Open Space sustainable. This area is set aside The use of open space throughout the for both active and passive campus is purposeful and necessary. By providing staff, volunteers, recreation and can be used by staff, clientele, and community members volunteers, clientele, and neighbors with places to enjoy the campus, alike. These areas can be provide programming, and gather, a particularly environmentally sound sense of placeand an asset for the if sustainable landscaping is communityis created. incorporated. Included in this is the implementation of a pathway system connecting various points across the campus, encouraging walking, exploring, and utilizing the full extent of the services and amenities provided to the community.

Historic Tax Credits Historic Tax Credits provide the organization the opportunity to rehabilitate and renovate the historic structures on the property while alleviating some of the cost of doing so. A 20% income tax credit is available for the rehabilitation of historic, income-producing buildings. This provides the organization with more flexibility when considering options for expanding programming.

Historic Preservation and Mixed Use Development

Designates areas that can be utilized for higher densities as well as for various activities including programming, storage, commercial and retail uses, as well as office space. By utilizing existing structures and incorporating a variety of uses into the properties, more flexibility will arise for the

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organization. Situated in a low-density residential neighborhood, rehabilitating and reusing the existing buildings will help maintain the residential character of the area.

[Historic Reuse]
By utilizing the existing, historic structures already on the property, Cross-lines can reallocate money otherwise used for demolition and new construction. This environmentallyand financiallyfriendly option preserves the historic integrity of the area while providing options to rehabilitate existing space to accommodate current and future needs.

Business Processing Use

Includes light industrial, warehouse Business Processing Zoning activities and accommodates largeThe Business Processing Zoning scale deliveries and shipments. designation allow for a non-industrial, Nothing is produced or manufactured heavy use area where the on site and there are no hazardous organization can process goods, waste issues to consider, this is accommodate deliveries and mainly a processing plant area distribution via commercial trucks. designation. Because of this light use, This new zoning code creates a special this designation is suitable for a designation that would allow the use to fit in well in a residential area. mostly residential/commercial area. This is highly compatible with the mixed-use area as, particularly on a confined campus, this should be integrated with other uses so as to fully utilize the space and resources and incorporate the structure into the campus and avoid a strictly industrial use.

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