Columbus Square is attractive...

[purpletulip]

But the Babies R Us row at the Marketplace only has three stores I believe, versus many more stores in the District, including a grocery store whcih usually gets more traffic. 

I too think getting in and out of the District is truly a hassle, especially from Barranca. 

The Babies R Us and Loehmanns at the Marketplace have the EXACT same parking lot design as Best Buy and there are no traffic problems.  The issue is the popularity of the District which gets a lot more traffic, something Vestar needs to take steps to deal with.

 

[iheartdebt]

Last week, the call of the double double and animal style fries struck me, so I swung by the In n Out drive-thru on the way to a meeting.  By the time I was making the protected left hand turn onto Barranca, I was done with my tasty 2x2.  Ridiculous.

The District turned out to be a lot more popular than they expected, especially given the fact that the community it was meant to serve hasn't even been built.  With the addition in traffic should come addition in handling it.

That doesn't make sense... if you build a "million square foot" center, you expect it to be popular and you design appropriately. In fact, the District is probably under trafficked right now because of the stall in residential building so I imagine when it does build out... it will be magnitudes worse.

Eventually, they'll probably have to make the entrance between the walking mall and In&Out an exit or entrance only or close it altogether because it's already bad now.

And while the back entrances (Target/Lowes/Costco) are relatively easy now, once the rest of the Tustin Legacy builds out, those will also be nightmares.

So maybe test is right, people will have to end up walking there because driving there will take longer.

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

Last week, the call of the double double and animal style fries struck me, so I swung by the In n Out drive-thru on the way to a meeting.  By the time I was making the protected left hand turn onto Barranca, I was done with my tasty 2x2.  Ridiculous.

The District turned out to be a lot more popular than they expected, especially given the fact that the community it was meant to serve hasn't even been built.  With the addition in traffic should come addition in handling it.

That doesn't make sense... if you build a "million square foot" center, you expect it to be popular and you design appropriately. In fact, the District is probably under trafficked right now because of the stall in residential building so I imagine when it does build out... it will be magnitudes worse.

Eventually, they'll probably have to make the entrance between the walking mall and In&Out an exit or entrance only or close it altogether because it's already bad now.

And while the back entrances (Target/Lowes/Costco) are relatively easy now, once the rest of the Tustin Legacy builds out, those will also be nightmares.

So maybe test is right, people will have to end up walking there because driving there will take longer.

I have been to that In-n-Out location exactly once.  Once was all it took to realize that it's faster to drive to other In-n-Out than go through the ridiculous maze called District.

 

[IndieDev]

But the Babies R Us row at the Marketplace only has three stores I believe, versus many more stores in the District, including a grocery store whcih usually gets more traffic. 

I too think getting in and out of the District is truly a hassle, especially from Barranca. 

The Babies R Us and Loehmanns at the Marketplace have the EXACT same parking lot design as Best Buy and there are no traffic problems.  The issue is the popularity of the District which gets a lot more traffic, something Vestar needs to take steps to deal with.

Exactly. Babies R Us doesn't attract the same amount of people that Best Buys or Whole Foods does. It's not a valid comparison.

District has gotten so bad in the past few years, they have full-time traffic maids running the show now, and it still takes about 30 minutes to get from Best Buys back onto Barranca.

 

[test]

By the time I was making the protected left hand turn onto Barranca, I was done with my tasty 2x2.

No wonder there's so much traffic, people keep driving while distracted (like eating).

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

By the time I was making the protected left hand turn onto Barranca, I was done with my tasty 2x2.

No wonder there's so much traffic, people keep driving while distracted (like eating).

I think he was completely stopped while eating.  If he were driving even 1 mph, he would have gotten out of District before finishing the 2x2.

 

[rexmiller]

The city is really to blame.  Developers will be developers.  Sometimes they do the right thing, but more often than not, they try to stretch the rules for financial return (as they should, as is their obligation to share holders).  But that's where government oversight can actually play a valuable role.

However, in this case, the City of Tustin happens to be run by the most incompetent civil servants in all of orange county.  New management has been brought in (Dave Biggs), but with Christine Shingleton still there, nothing will change.  There's been millions in undisclosed settlement dollars paid out by the city in the past few years, and it's all thanks to shingleton and her belligerent emails.

If you live in Tustin, you need to start demanding more accountability from your City staff.

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

The city is really to blame.  Developers will be developers.  Sometimes they do the right thing, but more often than not, they try to stretch the rules for financial return (as they should, as is their obligation to share holders).  But that's where government oversight can actually play a valuable role.

However, in this case, the City of Tustin happens to be run by the most incompetent civil servants in all of orange county.  New management has been brought in (Dave Biggs), but with Christine Shingleton still there, nothing will change.  There's been millions in undisclosed settlement dollars paid out by the city in the past few years, and it's all thanks to shingleton and her belligerent emails.

If you live in Tustin, you need to start demanding more accountability from your City staff.

I totally agree.  The city of Tustin really messed up when they approved the District.  The city had no idea what they were approving.

 

[IndieDev]

Does anyone know the numbers on the District? It seems that the District small shop area is dying a slow painful death. The mini-Toys R Us closed down. 

 

[shadax]

Every time I go to the Dub I think about how badly designed the layout of that center is.  Yeah, I know, "I'm still going aren't I"-  yes, I am...but I don't choose the venue.

 

[rexmiller]

Does anyone know the numbers on the District? It seems that the District small shop area is dying a slow painful death. The mini-Toys R Us closed down. 

I don't have any detailed numbers but after speaking with some of the Vestar folks, the big box stores are still doing well. After a couple of drinks, they will admit that the small pedestrian mall and storefronts near wholefoods were horribly designed. I've always complained to these guys about the traffic plan and how ridiculous it is to have to cut in new driveways and add physical traffic barriers near the costco gas station, but, they always defer to the answer that "this is the way the city wanted it".

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Yes... blame it on the city... that just goes to prove how much more they didn't do their job.

It's the developer's responsibility to tell the city what would be best for traffic and pedestrian flow.

If they wanted to keep the layout as is, they should have layered it, possibly putting a two-level parking structure to the right of District Way with pedestrian overpasses to the strip mall. I understand that would be more costly but once Tustin Legacy gets built out... they will need the extra parking and better traffic flow.

 

[IndieDev]

Pedestrian walkway would have solved a lot of problems. How much would that have cost? $60,000?

 

[IndieDev]

Does anyone know the numbers on the District? It seems that the District small shop area is dying a slow painful death. The mini-Toys R Us closed down. 

I don't have any detailed numbers but after speaking with some of the Vestar folks, the big box stores are still doing well. After a couple of drinks, they will admit that the small pedestrian mall and storefronts near wholefoods were horribly designed. I've always complained to these guys about the traffic plan and how ridiculous it is to have to cut in new driveways and add physical traffic barriers near the costco gas station, but, they always defer to the answer that "this is the way the city wanted it".

I knew it. If you walk down from the Movie Theater to the Johnny Rockets, you will see at least 4 vacancy signs on the way.

 

[test]

A simple traffic light would be even cheaper.  But as you can tell from the plastic barriers they used in front of the gas station, they're not willing to spend very much.

 

[kinetics]

A simple traffic light would be even cheaper.  But as you can tell from the plastic barriers they used in front of the gas station, they're not willing to spend very much.

I hate that Costco Gas station entrance/exit interchange.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

A traffic light doesn't help as much as a pedestrian overpass would.

That run of road is too short for another light and traffic would not have to stop for a single person crossing the street.

 

[rexmiller]

A traffic light doesn't help as much as a pedestrian overpass would.

That run of road is too short for another light and traffic would not have to stop for a single person crossing the street.

It's a lost cause, the reality is that anything short of a road widening or realignment won't resolve the problem. 

I really want to blame the developer on this one, but I've met with the city's internal traffic engineer. He is a complete joke.  How can it be that Diamond Jamboree is easier to get in and out of than the District?

 

[IndieDev]

A traffic light doesn't help as much as a pedestrian overpass would.

That run of road is too short for another light and traffic would not have to stop for a single person crossing the street.

It's a lost cause, the reality is that anything short of a road widening or realignment won't resolve the problem. 

I really want to blame the developer on this one, but I've met with the city's internal traffic engineer. He is a complete joke.  How can it be that Diamond Jamboree is easier to get in and out of than the District?

Exactly. I can get a milk tea from 85 Degrees and be out in less than 5 minutes if there's a short line.

But getting out of the Whole Foods parking lot on a Saturday afternoon to get back onto Barranca? 20 minutes at least.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

IndieDev... you're exaggerating... there is no such thing as a "short line" at 85?. 

But I'm not going to give DJ a free pass... parking there is atrocious on Friday/Saturday nights... one time I drove all the way to the top of what they call a "parking structure", only to drive all the way back down again and still find no parking.