VILLAGES WITH TEN BLOCKS

PEDESTRIAN FREINDLY

The first reason for proposing a ten block layout, rather than something larger, is to make the village pedestrian friendly. The PLAN places every home less than one mile from the center. Most homes, of course, would be much closer. While the average person could walk or pedal the maximum distance with little difficulty, many residents will still prefer to use their private car. With the TEN BLOCK VILLAGE PLAN the drive from the farthest house to the center will be both quick and convenient.

640-ACRE SECTIONS

The second reason for suggesting ten block villages, rather than larger or smaller villages, is that much of the land in North America was surveyed in the 19th century into sections that are one mile square (640 acres). The TEN BLOCK VILLAGE PLAN should very easily fit into an existing 640-acre section with land to spare for Greenbelt Trails along the perimeter and for the amenities near the center.

Public roads currently border most 640-acre sections of land in rural areas. Those existing roads could be improved and made into the Parkways for less money that creating new roads on virgin land.

UNIFORM ADDRESS SYSTEM

The third reason for planning ten block villages is the convenient address numbering system. Each village in a community should have the same uniform address numbering system to make it easy for emergency personnel, delivery people, contractors, and ordinary people to find a home or business.

The total distance between the south border of the village and the north border is ten blocks. The village addressing system could be designed in one of two ways:

The first method is for very large communities where the address system for each village is part of a larger system. The addresses in the first tier of villages north of the Central Business District always begin with 1001, 1002, 1003, etc. at the southern part of the village. The addressing would continue in chronological order northward (past Village Drive) to the north end of those villages. The addresses for the next tier of villages begin with 2001, 2002, 2003, etc. The addresses for the third tier of villages begin with 3001, 3002, 3003, etc. The first address near the southern boundary of a village will always include 001 if every village in a community has ten blocks.

With this first addressing method a delivery person looking for 2436 Ashworth Street knows that the address is located in the second tier of villages. The residential street names are arranged in alphabetical order from west to east. The delivery person also knows that Ashworth Street, because the name begins with an "A", is the first street in the village near the west border.

The villages south of the Central Business District would be the mirror opposite of what I just described. The addresses in the first tier of villages south of the Central Business District always begin with 1001, 1002, 1003, etc. at the northern part of the village. The addressing would continue in chronological order southward (past Village Drive) to the south end of those villages. The addresses for the next tier of villages begin with 2001, 2002, 2003, etc. The addresses for the third tier of villages begin with 3001, 3002, 3003, etc. The first address near the northern boundary of a village will always include 001 if every village in a community has ten blocks.

The second method for assigning addresses in a village is to always begin the addressing with 1, 2, 3, etc. at the intersection of each residential street with Village Drive. The street addressing continues in chronological order all the way to the end of the street at the cul-de-sac or circle.

With either method an emergency responder can visualize the location of the address they have been dispatched to long before they arrive. When every minute counts during an emergency it is important that the responders go directly to the proper address without delay.