Select a Project ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- View a List of our Regional Projects Here ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Madera County Blueprint Process Marin County Steering Committee Metro Rural Loop Feasibility Study NY5 Land Use and Transportation Study Rail Runner Station Area Planning and TOD Zoning Places29; Albemarle Northern Neighborhoods Framework Plan San Benito County Transit Design Guidelines SANDAG PeD Guidelines SJVGRS, Phase III SMART Station Concept Design Treasure Valley Futures Valley Metro Rail Station Area Study Valley Metro TOD Overlay & PeD Guidelines Vision Los Angeles VTA Pedestrian Technical Guidelines

Treasure Valley Futures

Canyon and Ada Counties, Idaho

The Treasure Valley region of Southwestern Idaho includes two counties, 14 cities and the state capital of Boise. In 2000, the region was identified as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States and for over a decade, the communities and stakeholders in the region have been concerned about the rapid growth as a threat to their high quality of life. In response, a group of agencies and advocacy groups successfully secured a Transportation and Community Systems Preservation (TCSP) planning grant to fund the project. The Treasure Valley Futures project is aimed at building the capacity of local, regional and state decision-makers from the public, private and non-profit sectors, to better understand the linkages between land use, transportation, local and regional economics, and quality of life to cooperatively reshape their future.

Given the Valley’s fragmented political framework and deeply held beliefs around the importance of property rights, Community Design + Architecture ’s role in leading discussions that incorporated both a regional and a local perspective was an innovative and critical step towards reaching consensus and exploring possibilities. Stakeholder participation was initiated with a Bus Tour that allowed nearly 100 participants to see and learn about a variety of local development patterns, and their contribution to the sustainability, livability, accessibility and mobility of the region. Participants evaluated the effectiveness of these patterns, with regard to their relationship to regional and local quality of life, in several locations. This successful tour built the groundwork and the momentum for a "Barriers Forum" that allowed stakeholders to identify barriers to Smart Growth.

Community Design + Architecture prepared the booklet illustrating design alternatives for sites throughout the region, which was the basis of the Forum that was, in turn, the starting point for the development of a tool kit of strategies and policy recommendations for overcoming the barriers. Community Design + Architecture was responsible for developing land use and urban design concepts and policies, drafting key tools related to these policies and planning methods, and editing other portions of the tool kit. Community Design + Architecture also assisted in preparing illustrative mappings of the two regional growth scenario trends and took part in several on-going education efforts sponsored by Treasure Valley Futures groups and the Congress for the New Urbanism.