During the Spring Quarter 2018, a graduate and an undergraduate studio run by Hemalata Dandekar and Vicente del Rio, respectively, collaborated with Dinuba, a small town in California\u27s Central Valley. Responding to a request from the city manager, the students were charged with envisioning how to redesign and revitalize the city\u27s downtown and the abutting under-developed and under-utilized railroad corridor

Dandekar, Hemalata C.

del Rio, Vicente

English

DigitalCommons@CalPoly

Faculty and Student WorkFOCUS  15                             Envisioning a Future for Dinuba: Revitalizing Downtown and the Railroad Corridor Vicente del Rio Hemalata Dandekar PhD; Professor, City and Regional PhD, AICP; Professor, City and Regional Planning Department, Cal Poly. Planning Department, Cal Poly. During the Spring Quarter 2018, a graduate and an undergraduate studio run by Hemalata Dandekar and Vicente del Rio, respectively, collaborated with Dinuba, a small town in California's Central Valley. Responding to a request from the city manager, the students were charged with envisioning how to redesign and revitalize the city's downtown and the abutting under-developed and under-utilized railroad corridor. Refecting Cal Poly's learn-by-doing philosophy and CRP'spedagogy, during the ten-week period of Spring 2018, twostudio classes, graduate studio CRP 553 Project Planning Laband undergraduate studio CRP 203 Urban Design II collaboratedwith the City of Dinuba, California to develop concept visions forthe city’s downtown and adjacent railroad corridor. These stu-dios, part of the graduate and undergraduate core curriculum,are ofered in the MCRP program’s frst year, and the last quarterof the BSCRP program’s second year respectively. The graduatestudio traditionally engages in client-driven projects sponsoredby a local jurisdiction or a private party.  The objective is to envi-sion development possibilities, design concepts, and implemen-tation strategies at the scale of a specifc plan. The undergradu-ate studio generally does not have external sponsorship or areal-world client.Having received a request from the City of Dinuba to contrib-ute with the city’s eforts in re-envisioning the downtown, theinstructor/authors of this article decided to have the graduateand undergraduage studios collaborate by assigning comple-mentary projects to the two groups which were diferentiated insubstantive content and complexity, and addressed city blocksthat were adjacent but separated by the the railroad tracks thattraverse and divide the city north-west to southeast. (Figure 1). Located about 180 miles north of Los Angeles and 200 milessouth of San Francisco, the City of Dinuba encompasses approxi-mately 3.42 square miles of mostly fat land in California’s SanJoaquin Valley, at the northwestern corner of Tulare County. Tu-lare County is the second-leading producer of agricultural com-modities in the United States, and raisins are a major productin the Dinuba area where 40 percent of the world’s raisins aregrown and dried. Not surprisingly, most residents are employedin farming or agriculture-related activities, and the city’s top fveemployers are Ruiz Foods (America’s leading frozen Mexicanfood manufacturer), the School District, a tree farm, Walmart,and a Best Buy distribution center. From 1990 to 2010 Dinuba’spopulation doubled to 21,453 of which 87% are Hispanic or La-tino; the median family income is $38,008 and the poverty rateis 27%. The largest neighboring cities are Fresno to the northand Visalia to the south. The biggest tourist attractions, nation-ally famed Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks are nearby.Figure 1: Dinuba Downtown and the graduateand undergraduate study and project areas. ■  FOCUS  15112  ■ Faculty and Student Work                                         Figure 2: A view of L Street where Dinuba's downtown featuresnew streetscaping. Most of the downtown area, however, isunderutilized, has few social and economic attractions, anddisplays poorly maintained alleys and overall poor connectivity. But, being slightly of the main entries to these national drawsDinuba has not captured much of the tourists trafc to thesedestinations. Incorporated in 1906, Dinuba has maintained its small-towncharm.  Its downtown--covering only a couple of blocks--is verywalkable with several attractive historical buildings. It commu-nity is very engaged, and appreciates the downtown. Due to itsphysical characteristics, social composition, location, and goodregional connectivity, the City of Dinuba has a great potentialto, on the one hand, advance the development of its residen-tial housing stock and, on the other, to became a portal to KingsCanyon and Sequoia National Parks. The City of Dinuba is work-ing hard on a series of strategic redevelopment and urban de-sign eforts, particularly aiming at community development,revitalization of the downtown and the abutting railroad corri-dor, improving accessibility, and implementing actions to forgea strong regional identity.The student work developed in the two studios contributed tothis city efort by envisioning sustainable, walkable, and sociallyand culturally appropriate concept development plans andprojects that were responsive to the city’s General Plan and to lo-cal needs and opportunities. Their ten-week efort culminated inthe development of pre-planning insights, development strat-egies, and urban design concepts, for the City of Dinuba. Thegraduate studio focused on Dinuba’s downtown core, while theundergraduate studio focused on the railroad corridor abuttingand parallel to the downtown, but separated from it by the rail-road tracks. The students went on a feld trip to the city followingan initial week-long in-class investigation of existing informa-tion, data, plans and land-use regulations applicable to Dinubain general and in particular to their study areas. The graduateFigure 3: Partial view of Dinuba's railroad corridor showing vacantand underutilized properties. The undergraduate studio focused onthe redevelopment of this corridor, repurposing existing buildingsand introducing new attractions and mixed-use development. class spent two days in the city meeting with city ofcials, con-ducting meetings with several stakeholders at the Dinuba Voca-tional Center, scoping the city through a windshield survey, andstudying several aspects of the downtown by walking, observ-ing, and completing interviews and surveys to assess local de-velopment patterns and wishes. The undergraduate class spentone day conducting a windshield survey of the downtown areaand an on-foot survey of development patterns in the railroadcorridor, and its relationships to the rest of the city. The Graduate Studio Challenge The graduate studio, conducted by Dr. Hemalata Dandekar, in-cluded sixteen MCRP students1 and concentrated on planningfor Dinuba’s downtown, an area of approximately 54 acres con-taining the historical core and abutting the railway. The early citygrid which related to the railroad is a result of late 1800s sub-di-vision for a settlement of families engaged in farming.  It prevailsin the downtown and railroad district. The historic architecturethat has fortunately remained intact in the downtown providesa testimony to the city’s origins as an agriculture outpost and arail stop. The newer grid morphology of Dinuba is angled fromthe old and presents a challenge to make the downtown acces-sible to passing trafc. The challenge for the students was toplan for a vibrant and walkable downtown featuring a mix ofresidential, retail, ofce, institutional and open space uses. The studio work was performed in three general phases: 1) as-sessment of context and problem (including background re-1 The MCRP students in this studio were: Erik Anderson, Miles Barker, Devin Ciriaco, Kent Harrison, Edgar Hernandez, Sarah Howland, Madi-lyn Jacobsen, Justin Klaparda, Erin Kraft, June Lai, Cara Meche, Mark Pasanen, Leeza Segal, Dustin Stifer, Elizabeth Yee, and Qijun Zeng. FOCUS  15 ■                         del Rio & Dandekar: Revitalizing Dinuba ■ 113search, on-site lot-by-lot and surveys, and interviews with vari-ous stakeholders and community representatives) and SWOTanalysis; 2) identifcation of four zones for specifc planning anddesign thematic concepts; and 3) development of concept vi-sion plans for the zones. Each of the proposed four thematiczones has its own identity and provides a unique set of services.The Downtown Business District (Zone 1) includes a tree linedentry to the downtown from the east, strengthens existing busi-nesses and ofers several new housing types. The Civic Zone(Zone 2) concentrates public/civic functions and services arounda traditional city square featuring a new city hall. Zone 3 is theDowntown Main Street where a contiguous façade of upgraded,adaptively reused, or inflled buildings and activated alleywaysaugment Dinuba’s small town charm. Finally, the EntertainmentPlaza (Zone 4) expands recreation and entertainment opportu-nities and ofers several public plazas.The resulting plan includes proposals for land uses, circulation,streetscaping, signage, public spaces, design guidelines andfaçade renovations, and activated alleyways, resulting in a co-hesive urban design concept and delineating a phased imple-mentation strategy. The plan integrates with the undergraduatestudio proposal for the Railroad District, and the changes andnew attractions proposed would efectively strengthen Down-town Dinuba’s identity and functional role, transforming it into alocal and regional destination. The fnal concepts and proposalswere presented by the students as a powerpoint illustrated pre-sentation and a series of posters at a public session in Dinuba.The work was documented in the form of a fnal report whichhas been submitted to the city.MCRP - Downtown: The central plaza in the proposed Civic Square Zone,showing the existing Vocation Center at the top left corner of this image. MCRP - Downtown: The Business District - Diferent housing types inredeveloped blocks with Dinuba's iconic water tower as as backdrop(above), and a new corner plaza as a gateway to the Arts Corridor (below). ■  FOCUS  15114  ■ Faculty and Student Work                                  MCRP - Downtown:: An vacant lot is redeveloped as a linkage andanimated with food trucks and landscaping, at the Civic Square Zone. MCRP - Downtown:  The poorly maintained network of downtown alleys isredesigned to provide stronger and active pedestrian and bicycle connections. The Undergraduate Studio Challenge The second-year undergraduate studio involved with the Dinu-ba efort included two cohorts with a total of 25 students, andinstructors Dr. Vicente del Rio and Beate Von Bischopink.2 Theteams focused on redevelopment concepts for discrete sectionsof the railroad corridor paralleling Dinuba’s downtown and therailroad tract. Totaling approximately 54-acres, the area includesseveral underutilized and vacant buildings and parcels, and  therailway is only modestly utilized, featuring one freight train aday. It represents a strong physical barrier as well as a visual andeconomic challenge for Dinuba. City ofcials wanted the studioto envision its redevelopment as a Railroad District.The project’s frst phase included in-class studies of availableon-line information, city plans and regulations as well as a one-day trip for windshield studies of the whole downtown and on-site surveys of usage, circulation, and development conditionsin the corridor. An assessment of challenges and opportunitiesand a study of planning precedents in other cities led the classto adopt the following development principles: create a unique,themed district; use the railroad ROW as an opportunity for con-nectivity; encourage mixed uses, public uses, parks, and openspaces; enhance residential opportunities and mixed typologiesparticularly for the work force; provide for recreational and lei-sure opportunities; and reutilize and add value to the historical/ industrial architecture.In the next phase, the district was sub-divided into two to three-block sectors and distributed to twelve student teams who cameup with redevelopment and design concepts as well as prelimi-nary programs for the short and long terms. The proposals werecareful in integrating the Railroad District to downtown, and infacilitating smooth visual and physical transitions. The proposalsincluded ideas such as: a linear park along the railway ROW fea-turing old train wagons as restaurants and bike paths continuingto the surrounding areas of Dinuba and linking to other towns inthe region; trafc calming; vertical mixed-use; town-homes andapartments for varied income groups; a library; a communitycenter; a museum; an incubator for small businesses linked toFresno State University; community gardens; and recreationaland sports facilities for the community. The teams organizedand edited all phases of their work and the fnal proposal intoposters and a fnal report that were submitted to the city. … 1 The BSCRP students in this studio were: Adam Wasowicz, Alexandra Lee-Gardner, Brendan Norton, Camille Frace, Camille Kelem, Chloe Evans, Chris Cortez, Chris Dedo, Clarissa Flores, Elizabeth Farin, Erik Valentine, Jack Balfour, Jeremiah Rogers, Kyle Courtney, Lane Suther-land, Lisa Detter, Madison Driscoll, Melia Schelstrate, Nick Johnston, Oscar Gake, Paul Chytla-Hinze, Shayna Gropen, Sheridan Nansen, Tessa Houseman, and Valeria Diaz. FOCUS  15 ■        del Rio & Dandekar: Revitalizing Dinuba ■ 115 BSCRP - Railroad District:Sector by Chloe Evans &Lisa Detter. BSCRP - Railroad District: Sectorby Alexandra Lee-Gardner &Melia Schelstrate. BSCRP - Railroad District: Gateway to railroadROW linear park, by Chris Dedo & Eric Valentin . BSCRP - Railroad District: Sector by Brendan Norton & Madison Driscoll. BSCRP - Railroad District: Sector byBSCRP - Railroad District: Detail ofClarissa Flores & Nick Johnston design. Jack Bafour & Valeria Diaz. BSCRP - Railroad District: Sector by Oscar Gake, Kyle Courtney & Adam Wasowicz. 

Envisioning a Future for Dinuba: Revitalizing Downtown and the Railroad Corridor

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Envisioning a Future for Dinuba: Revitalizing Downtown and the Railroad Corridor

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