OPINION

Ankeny’s Prairie Trail revives lost art of town planning

Rox Laird
roxlaird@dmreg.com
A Prairie Trail neighborhood.

As Ankeny evolved from a small town in north Polk County into a booming suburb, it followed predictable development patterns with generic residential subdivisions and wide thoroughfares lined with big-box stores.

Then, in 2005, Ankeny was presented with a rare if not unique opportunity to create something completely different when Iowa State University decided to vacate its dairy research farm in the middle of the growing suburb. Here was a 1,000-acre clean slate on which the city could envision a new community with roots in classic small Iowa towns.

A decade later that community is finally beginning to take shape, and there are lessons for all cities in this departure from ordinary suburban development.

Prairie Trail is in many respects a response to auto-centric suburbs.

Pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods with tree-lined sidewalks invite you to stroll past houses that present broad front porches to the street rather than blank garage doors. Pocket parks encourage neighborhood gatherings.

Narrow interior streets are laid out in patterns designed to calm traffic rather that rush it to the freeway. Some garages have alley entrances; others must be recessed from the front of each house.

MORE: Prairie Trail follows bigger homes, smaller lots trend

Retail activity happens at street-level storefronts in a town center that evokes Main Street USA, not a shopping center.

Housing options range from multifamily units and starter homes to duplexes and townhomes to $1 million mansions. Among the 350 homes built so far in Prairie Trail are examples of traditional architecture based on the design of a south of Grand Tudor in Des Moines, a Beaverdale brick, a Sherman Hill Victorian or a Colonial Revival in uptown Ankeny.

The home designs come from a pattern book created by the developer and the city with consulting architects. It is a textbook for design, with meticulous detail down to the shape of windows and dormers, exterior materials, colors, fences and landscaping.

Builders must choose from four basic home designs: European Romantic, Arts and Crafts, Victorian and Colonial Revival. There can be no more than three of the same style built next to each other. And the design, exterior features, colors and materials are approved by an architectural review board made up of representatives of the developer, the city and an outside architect.

The Prairie Trail concept first sketched out in 2004 by Des Moines architect Bill Ludwig envisioned a complete community with homes, schools, parks, trails, high- and low-density residential, office and retail districts. The city purchased the land from Iowa State for $23 million and, after reviewing a dozen developer proposals, sold the site to Ankeny native Dennis Albaugh, a billionaire who made a fortune in global agricultural chemical sales.

Albaugh’s plan stood apart because he proposed creating a Civic Fund: For every dollar the city of Ankeny put into the project for streets, sewers and other public infrastructure, he would put up a dollar and a quarter for civic amenities, such as parks, a library and swimming pools.

The detailed masterplan for Prairie Trail based on Ludwig’s original concept came out of an intensive planning process involving the city, the developer and architectural and urban design consultants.

Not everything went according to master plan. The plan called for a town center with storefront shops on the street level and apartments on the second floor built on a town square, much like the classic county-seat towns, such as Winterset, Newton or Adel. Instead, it has evolved into neighborhood shopping district dominated by family-oriented restaurants.

Timing worked against the project, too. Development began just as the economy plunged into recession, and it has only recently gotten back on track. The Civic Fund has invested more than $40 million into infrastructure and public facilities, including a new community water park and 13 miles of trails.

It’s unlikely such a planned community could easily be replicated. It would require a huge site and a city and developer willing to stick to a visionary plan. But it offers lessons for all community planners: There are reasons people are attracted to traditional residential neighborhoods like Beaverdale and shopping experiences are so appealing on Iowa’s courthouse squares.

Much of 20th century suburban development has forgotten the principles of walkability, human scale and design that respects tradition. As Ankeny has demonstrated, those principles can be revived, however, and replicated anywhere.