Rancho Cordova Community Wins State Planning Award

Capital Village, a mixed-use, town-center community in the City of Rancho Cordova, California, has been awarded this year’s Planning Project Award by the California Chapter of the American Planning Association.

The Capital Village concept was developed shortly after the City of Rancho Cordova incorporated in 2003. “The City wanted to do something unique with this large parcel of vacant land located in the heart of Rancho Cordova’s employment center,” said Jeff Beiswenger, Senior Planner for the City of Rancho Cordova.  “The concept was to provide housing and retail opportunities for a large workforce that lived outside the City.”

The 117-acre Capital Village development is a blend of residential, commercial, and retail uses that surround a four-acre central park.  Dubbed the Village Green, the park creates a meeting and event place for residents and features a distinctive tower, an interactive water fountain, and an amphitheater.  The Village Green connects the residential areas to Capital Village’s commercial Town Center via a footbridge.

Nearly two-thirds of the Town Center has been built.  When completed, it will accommodate more than 300,000 square feet of commercial space.  “Main Street” features retail shops and restaurants on the first floor with office spaces on the second floor.  Wide walkways in front of the stores on Main Street have benches, bike racks, street trees, planters, decorative paving, and outdoor dining facilities.

More than half of the planned 827 residential units have been built or are under construction.  The unique housing area is comprised of four styles of both attached and detached single family dwellings:  bungalows, cottages, brownstones, and townhomes.  A system of roadways, sidewalks, and paseos are designed to provide easy access through the project so residents can easily walk or bicycle to work or shop or for pleasure.  In addition, smaller parks—some with playgrounds–enhance the neighborhood feeling of the development.

“To accomplish this unique community, a Capital Village Special Planning Area document was created and adopted by the City Council,” said Beiswenger.  “New development standards were crafted to allow for compact design, distinctive street scenes and cohesiveness amongst diverse housing types and commercial needs.”

Capital Village is located near the intersection of Zinfandel Drive and International Drive, south of Highway 50, in Rancho Cordova, California. In addition to this state-wide award, Capital Village also won the 2008 Blueprint Excellence Award from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) and the Planning Project Award from the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the American Planning Association.

For additional information about Rancho Cordova’s Capital Village, please contact Project Manager, Jeff Beiswenger at (916) 851-8754.

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Posted by Michelle Ventress on Aug 25 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.