Looking from West to East Across the Cener of RiverPark with a Park and Varied Types of Residential Units ========================================= RiverPark is a 702-acre new community located at the intersection of the Ventura Freeway and the Santa Clara River. The project includes residential neighborhoods, regional and neighborhood retail centers, a hotel/convention center, elementary and secondary schools, and a complete system of parks and play fields. These facilities are linked by a project- wide open space, pedestrian and vehicle circulation and utility network. According to the RiverPark Specific Plan, "The site plan and circulation network are designed and coordinated to invite and maximize pedestrian use. This is achieved by providing mixed land uses within walkable distances and linking them with attractive pedestrian corridors and public transit." RiverPark is designed as a walkable community -- most residents will live within 10 minutes of the commercial/retail, and it will be easy to walk to school, the grocery store, or the theater. RiverPark is one of the largest master-planned communities recently conceived in the County, but it has bucked the trend toward sprawl. Where thoroughfares, building pads, street lights, parks, and the first wave of many buildings are now taking shape, there once stood a barren industrial site, underutilized and neglected for many years. RiverPark can provide up to 2805 single-family and multi-family units in a variety of detached and attached product types. The project was designed with fourteen percent of the residential units designated as affordable. In Phase I construction that is currently being completed has approximately 1000 units in a mix of rental and ownership units. 21% of these units are classified as affordable; 15% are on site and 6% are affordable through use of in-lieu fees. However, since market prices have dropped, deed restricted units are now priced very close to the market properties, and are slow to sell because for an extra $50,000, people can get market units. However, the slowdown will not stop this phase of the buildout since phasing requirements call for a certain pacing of development tying in schools and other infrastructure. Up to 2,485,000 square feet of retail, hotel/convention and office uses will serve RiverPark's neighborhoods. Community and publicly-oriented facilities will include three schools, and several parks with different sizes and configurations. Since SOAR has become law, restricting development outside the cities' boundaries, it simply makes more sense to look inward at properties that clearly have not been utilized to their highest potentials. With RiverPark becoming a reality, Oxnard has capitalized on land that had not previously offered much return to the community. The property has a highly desirable location. It has easy freeway access, sits alongside a riverbank, and has with major infrastructure within easy reach. The project also takes advantage of some key site features by turning two large sand and gravel mines into bodies of water for the new community to enjoy. River Park not only makes use of recycled land, it also departs from run-of-the-mill housing development in many other ways. It incorporates key features which will make it quite pleasant once completed, and which are absent in more conventional subdivisions: 1) The blocks are shorter; 2) The streets are narrower and are more interconnected through a grid system which will help disperse traffic throughout the neighborhood as a means of diminishing congestion points; 3) The garages are relegated to the rear of homes and accessed via very nicely landscaped alleys -- a marked difference from alleys of old; 4) Roundabouts at major intersections are intended to keep traffic flowing while slowing it down at the same time; 5) Parking requirements are reduced for some projects while on-street parking is allowed to count toward the required amount; 6) Small parks are distributed throughout the area to better serve the community; 7) Diverse housing types give residents more choices, from market rate single family detached homes for ownership to attached multi- family apartments, mixed-use, and live work units; 8) The plan incorporates a town center with higher density mixed-use commercial, providing much needed employment within the community to minimize commuting traffic. All these features should help make this new neighborhood a true "pedestrian friendly" one, where many can choose to live near where they work and be able to go to shops within walking distance. RiverPark is clearly superior to many other developments that offer only empty claims about providing pedestrian friendly neighborhoods without truly doing so. Some traditional "big box" type commercial developments with large parking lots are still allowed along the southern edge of the neighborhood, but it is conceivable that in the future, should demands for densification justify it, those parking lots may be converted into structured parking with residential development above and around them. RiverPark's open space areas, including its circulation corridors, are described by the Specific plan as elements that "are planned as embracing, inviting environments supporting pedestrian use, social interaction, recreation and play." The Specific Plan also states that "The landscape plays a critical environmental role by preserving attractive viewsheds, creating vistas, providing comfortable microclimates, establishing visual identity, buffering noise and unattractive views, and creating privacy. The landscape will also preserve areas of unique visual, historic and natural value on the site." The RiverPark Specific Plan "provides the City of Oxnard with a comprehensive planning program to regulate the use of land and govern the orderly development of the RiverPark new community. The Specific Plan is a plan, not a design. It establishes the development concept and regulations which implement the concept. Further design and engineering of the infrastructure, development sub- areas and particular land development projects within RiverPark will be required before and during implementation. This future development must be consistent, and in substantial conformance, with the vision, spirit, intent, objectives and regulations of this Specific Plan." The Plan further states that "RiverPark development objectives are derived from the physical, demographic and market environment of the Specific Plan Area, identified development needs and potentials, and the provisions of the City of Oxnard's 2020 General Plan. Based on completed market studies, build-out is anticipated in ten to fifteen years." In addition, "Each of RiverPark's thirteen Planning Districts will have its own character and identity, yet each will contribute to creating RiverPark as a cohesive community." While current market conditions and tight credit have brought prices down, housing is still relatively unaffordable for many buyers. Although not totally able to solve this problem, RiverPark's housing projects look to be some of the most affordable in the county. While the overall plan is not necessarily perfect, this project is clearly a significant step in the right direction. We can only hope that future development of similar scale will learn from RiverPark and perhaps even improve upon it.

Learn About the Alliance

Who We Are

More on Livable Communities from Smart Growth America

Join Us! Become a Member of the Ventura County Civic Alliance