/keywestliving/
MICHAEL MILLER | Continued so I’m proposing we raise the entire site at its highest point, and this is not an expensive proposition. Te other half to this scheme, and a very important part of it, is the fire station. Te fire station is located at the northeast corner of the site. Tere is an opportunity here because of the proportions of the site to allow what is called a drive-thru fire sta- tion where the fire trucks drive in from the back when they return from fighting a fire. Tey’ll drive around and into the station from the back of the building as opposed to the situation now where the firemen have to stop and direct traffic while they back the trucks into the station. In speaking to the Fire Marshall, they are quite thrilled with that possibility.
RT Give your frame of reference to how you came up with it and were charged with making it flow and. MM Part of the reason it has worked out so nicely is I got lucky with site propor- tions. Parking is largely a matter of geometry and turning radius of cars. We have a full 60 feet, and that’s sort of the magic number. We have that plus the paths people will be able to walk on that have trees and will be shaded. We also had the Josephine Parker lane existent. It was already there and is primarily used by people on Duval Street and Southard, businesses with their own parking lots at the rear of buildings. I should emphasize that this scheme in no way impedes the way that is being used right now. Tey will like the additional customers they are going to be getting.
RT How many parking spaces were you able to fill in this scheme? MMWe have 99 parking spaces. I think
there are 88 now. We have 10 percent more parking. Tis includes the manda- tory number of handicap spaces. We could get a couple more parking spaces, but 100 cars is a threshold where you need to add more handicap parking which is 1.5 parking spaces basically. It becomes a puzzle after a while, and you have to make judgments about what you want — one more parking space or public bathrooms? It really comes down to those types of trade offs, and I think we found the optimum combination.
RT I agree. One thing I feel strongly about is that we take our community for granted. We are not blessed with many opportunities to make improvements and enhancements to Key West. Tis I would argue is a major improvement, and it works on the different levels that need to be addressed. We are an car culture down here, and we are also a 3-by-5 mile island that has too much
traffic. Tis addresses that and is de- signed that while it satisfies some auto- mobile parking needs and requirements it also enhances multi-module trans- portation drop-off and bicycle areas. We want to promote bicycles in this community, not work against them. Do you agree that we need to start thinking about our community in a totally different way? MM I think so. Tere is a combination of things going on here, and there are the residents and the tourists. Tourists by and large come from suburban environments. Tey are coming into a small town environment. Tey are used to freeways and having multiple cars. Te new urbanism calls for fewer cars, but you can’t change the fact that tourists are used to a car culture, so we are addressing that and, at the same time, addressing the pedestrian aspect of this.
e
[
michael.miller ] l TV series “This Old House” reviewed renovation of his and wife Helen Colley’s 1866 Key West Conch Captain
house. l Michael Miller Architecture & Design, general contractor of historic and contemporary architecture, in business
since 1991 l Film Journal International previewed “Tropics Cinema”
and his Tropics design l Offered to work free on
Key West City Hall design l Harvard trained
www.konklife.com 13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24