Urban Planning Proposal

BRGY. SUN VALLEY

Urban Planning Proposal

BRGY. SUN VALLEY

Parañaque is the third largest city in the NCR region with a land area of 46.57 kilometers squared. The city is subdivided into 16 barangays, one of which is Barangay Sun Valley. This barangay was created under Presidential Decree No. 1326 dated April 13,1978. Situated at the heart of Parañaque, it has been awarded the most outstanding barangay among the 16 barangays in Parañaque in terms of budget allocation and budget transparency for the past two years. It is home to several factories, businesses, churches, schools, health clinics, and convenience stores that all contribute the growth of the city. Because of this, Barangay Sun Valley has indeed emerged to become a developing urbanized community.

Like other developing communities, Barangay Sun Valley also experiences certain problems such as the presence of informal settlers, fires, flooding due to typhoons, and pollution. One of its major problems which continues to affect its many residents and visitors at present, is the road congestion that occurs within the roads of the vicinity and those surrounding the barangay. Road traffic congestion poses a challenge for all large and growing urban areas and may be caused by several factors. Because it is strategically bounded by main roads, such as the Metro Manila Skyway and the service road, cars tend to accumulate in these roads during rush hours, causing congestion around the area. According to observations, Barangay Sun Valley also contains several narrow and bumpy roads that are evidently lacking in maintenance. Such roads are rooted along most of the barangay’s commercial establishments. In addition to this, the presence of tricycle terminals in the barangay encourage the abrupt loading and unloading of the passengers which may interrupt the flow of cars within its streets.

This urban planning proposal aims to gather information on one of the main problems of Barangay Sun Valley ー road congestion. This is to inform people of the current issues that affect the residents and visitors of the barangay and assist in the process of effective urban planning. We aim to highlight the key importance of road safety awareness at roadwork sites, which may lead to greater compliance by motorists to traffic directions, signage, and strict road rules. Through this, the local government as well as the barangay officials and employees can also effectively work hand in hand to address the existing issue by creating a new and improved traffic management scheme that will reduce the overall impact of congestion, as well as ensure the safety, peace and order of the entire community.

PRESENTATIONOF SCENARIO

PART ONE

The unfavorable issue of traffic congestion, specifically in Barangay Sun Valley, creates a need to gather ideas in order to formulate solutions to the given problem. We have teamed up propose a traffic scheme aimed towards lessening the number of vehicles on the minor roads of the entire barangay through the implementation of the use of shuttles and bikes as the new mode of transportation within the vicinity of its residential and commercial areas. This system is based on the “Park-and-ride” scheme adopted by citizens from Auckland, New Zealand, wherein people headed to city centers or residential areas leave their vehicles in designated car parks and transfer to a bus, rail system, or carpool for the remainder of the journey. This scheme does not only reduce the number of vehicles that contribute to the congestion on the road, but it also particularly promotes safety within the barangay, as well as, decreases the pollution in the area caused by carbon emissions.

Parking Buildings

We have imposed to improve the traffic management of the community by creating a total of four parking buildings that are distributed evenly throughout the barangay. These parking buildings would serve as adequate parking spaces for the vehicles owned by the residents of each district and visitors from outside the vicinity of Barangay Sun Valley. Each building would be situated along the main road of the community for easy access and will accommodate 5,000 vehicles, providing the entire barangay a total of 20,000 designated parking spaces. Considering the amount of households and visitors that enter Barangay Sun Valley on a daily basis, each resident will be allotted 2 spaces each, and can request for additional spaces at certain fees.

Shuttle and Bike Services

Beside the parking buildings would be a wide parking area allotted for shuttles and bikes only. 15-seater shuttles and bikes will act as the only mode of transportation within the minor roads in the barangay. This being said, motorists will park their vehicles in the parking buildings and will take a shuttle or bike to their designated homes or desired destinations. The shuttle system will be available to residents and visitors 24 hours daily to allow transportation around the different districts and zones at any given time. However, the number of shuttle vans that will operate will vary depending on the time of day. The shuttles will rotate around the barangay under a certain time schedule and route to ensure order and safety within the system.

Road Reconstruction and Widening: Due to the presence of parking buildings for the vehicles in the barangay, Barangay Sun Valley will have one main road or boulevard, bounded along the districts and zones of the barangay, that leads to each parking area as well as the main gates of the entire community. This is will act as the only road which will accommodate all types of vehicles and will therefore be widened in order to avoid the cluster of cars. Aside from the main road or boulevard, the barangay will contain a number of minor roads within each district and zone which will only accommodate shuttles and bikes. Because Barangay Sun Valley suffers from narrow and bumpy roads at present, these minor roads will be made relatively wide and will be surfaced properly in order to eradicate the occurring issue.

Rotonda

A rotonda, or a circular intersection will be placed along our main road to promote the continuous flow of vehicles continuously in one direction around a central island. Roundabouts eliminate perpendicular or ‘T-Bone’ crashes. This rotonda will be branched out into the several districts and zones of the community to ensure easy access to each.

Traffic Safety Measures and Stricter Policies

In order to maintain road order and safety, certain traffic safety measures and policies will be implemented. All roads will contain speed humps or speed tables, pedestrian lanes, signages, and speed limits. These will be implemented strictly to ensure that the motorists within the barangay comply with such rules.

Appointing of Enough Traffic Enforcers

In every community, it is important that discipline is established and focused on. With a substantial number of traffic enforcers, the flow of traffic as well as the system of shuttles will be easily managed. Traffic enforcers act as an aid in providing updates to the authorities regarding the validity and effectiveness of the new scheme; thus, contributing significantly to the development of the system. Also, they will be able to provide consequences to the violators of the law to ensure the safety and security of the community.

Zoning

The community will be divided into districts which will be limited to the residential properties, and zones which will contain only the commercial establishments of the entire community. This is to properly zone the residential and urban areas. Zoning is used to prevent new development from interfering with existing uses in order to preserve the "character" of a community. This will prevent conflicts between residential homeowners and businesses. This kind of system is significant in urban planning because it will ensure the proper use of land and mitigate environmental concerns, particularly traffic

PROPOSED SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM

PART TWO

JUSTIFICATION OF PROPOSAL

PART THREE

This proposal will effectively reduce road congestion with the cooperation the residents of the barangay. Below is the map of the entire barangay.

Parking Buildings

The parking buildings (PB1, PB2, PB3, and PB4) will surround the residential districts and commercial zones in order to provide accessibility and convenience to the residents. Each parking area will have a total area of 21,424.5m² allotted for the both the parking building and parking lot for the shuttles and bikes. Each building will hold approximately 4000 vehicles, with 800 parking spaces on each level. The buildings will be six stories high, which will be subdivided into three sections.

The first section is the first floor which will act as a lobby wherein the residents or guests will be able to wait for their respective shuttles. The lobby would contain a front desk for any inquires and other facilities to meet the demands of the residents or visitors. The second section would be the second floor of the building comprising of parking spaces limited to the visitors of the community only. The remaining four floors will act as of the third section of the building, which will hold vehicles of the residents of Barangay Sun Valley. Each household will be given 2 spaces each; should they wish to have more, a monthly rental fee per parking spot will be charged. In line with this, security guards will be stationed in each building to ensure the safety of the vehicles and the residents or visitors who are parking them.

Shuttle and Bike System

Once the residents or visitors park their cars, they are to proceed either to the parking lot retrieve their own personal bikes for their transportation around the city or to the lobby to anticipate the shuttles which will bring them elsewhere.

There will be approximately 600 shuttles; 150 will be stationed in every parking area. Shuttles in each will be required to roam in certain designated areas only, specifically in those that are nearest to them. This is to promote proper time management and avoid the wasting of gas or diesel used to run the vans. In the table below, each zone will be assigned to anticipate vehicles coming from two separate parking buildings. This is because there are many establishments such as schools, churches, parks, and other businesses that are positioned in the commercial zones. Due to this, many vehicles will be needed to transport the residents or visitors to or within Zone A and Zone B.

The shuttle system will run for 24 hours daily to provide transportation at any given time. During rush hour times (6:00am to 9:00am, 11:00am to 1:00pm, and 5:00pm to 7:00pm) most or all vehicles will be operating. This is due to the higher demand for transportation. In between the aforementioned times, only 100 vehicles per parking area will be allowed to run. From 10:00pm to 6:00am, only 20 vehicles per parking area will be utilized for safety purposes.

In line with the shuttle system is the placement of waiting sheds along roads of each district or zone (refer to map and legend for location of each). These serve as the only allotted waiting areas in order to avoid the interruption of the flow of traffic in other areas.

As an alternative to the shuttles, bikes may be used. According the builders of the bikes that this scheme aims to provide, Bambikes are made of bamboo and abaca materials bonded with alloys to create bike frames that “have been tested for durability, crash worthiness and stiffness”. Bambike Revolution Cycles promotes People-Planet-Progress advocacy for Filipino communities by developing bamboo bikes that are 100% Filipino made, 100% materials from Philippines and 100% sustainable. Established in 2003, The Foundation now works with over 2,000 communities.

Road Reconstruction and Widening

The main road or boulevard, bounded along the districts and zones of the barangay (orange lane on the map) will be particularly wide due to the fact it is the only road that will contain all the vehicles in the entire community. As seen on the diagram below, there will be 4 main lanes, 1 bike lane and 1 walking trail for each direction. Each lane for vehicles will be 3.5 meters, each bike lane will be 1.2 meters and the walking trail will be 1.05 meters. The width of this road will amount to a total of 34.5 meters.

Sun Valley Boulevard

The secondary or minor roads located in each district and zone (yellow lines on the map) will contain 2 main lanes, 1 bike lane and 1 walking trail for each direction. Each lane for vehicles will be 3.19 meters, and the dimensions of the bike lane and walking trail will remain the same. This will amount to 17.25 meters.

ROTONDA

Traffic Safety Measures and Stricter Policies

Speed Humps or Speed Tables 一 reduces speed and volumes of vehicles. When motorists notice the humps, they are forced to slow down their vehicles. The decrease in speed promotes the decreased chance of accidents.

Pedestrian Lanes 一 provide a safe slot for the pedestrians to safely cross the road. These will reassure safety among the residents and visitors of Barangay Sun Valley and allow them to cross roads with ease. Pedestrian lanes will be located amongst the entire main road of the barangay as well as all minor roads.

Signages 一 alert people, driver or pedestrian, about certain conditions.

PART FOUR

ELABORATION OF THE PROPOSAL

According to the Asean Automotive Federation (AAF), Philippine sales of motor vehicles grew 29% to 234, 747 units last year from 181, 738 in 2013. The more vehicles travelled the roadways, the more problems are created. Dream City is concerned about the safety of all the drivers, pedestrians and residents living in the said location.

The vital concern and challenge that the authorities have to face is safety. The more vehicles traverse the roads within the city, the more vehicular accidents may happen. Vehicular accidents damage both lives and properties which may discourage would be residents and investors of the Dream City.

Timeline and Budget of the Project

I. Road and gate construction

Before building the structures of the city, construction of roads must be done. The main road which surrounds the districts and zones of the barangay is approximately 6100 meters long, and 34.5 meters wide. Road constructions take over a year before the roads can be fully utilized, excluding the construction of gates which will take place immediately after the construction of roads are accomplished. Construction of a new road requires in-depth planning. It begins with a road base for the upper road structure and is followed by asphalt paving. Once this is completed, concrete is equally distributed all over the pavement.

Gate construction begins once road construction is complete. Steps such as mobilization and demobilization, guard house building, paint works and others are involved and to determine how big the gates will be.

II. Housing construction

Constructing a townhouse is similar to construction a private home. The only difference is that townhouses are divided to a few units. Before starting, the construction workers must remove debris, rocks and trees before pouring in the foundation. Once approved, the floor systems, walls, roof systems, electrical and plumbing are to be installed in the townhouse unit. Electrical and plumbing contractors are installed through the walls, ceilings and floors, and interior doors, window sills, stairs, etc. are applied. Finishing touches such as final wall painting and other appliances must be installed for the final inspection. Once this is approved, the townhouse unit is ready to be occupied.

III. Industrial structures and land purchasing

Under the industrial structures and land purchasing are the malls, hospitals, condominiums, schools and other business incorporated buildings. Constructing a new building may take less than a year depending on how big it will be or how much workers the land purchasers hire.

There are also parking lots that are to be provided for each district. These parking buildings will be consisting of 6 floors and high maintenance security will be provided since this is where the homeowners will park their cars due to the traffic schemes and policies of the barangay. The barangay authorities are the ones to plan out the whole construction process and the amount of money to be used. Once it's ready to use after the construction process, these parking buildings are to be used by residents and non-residents.

Additional Expenses

Shuttle system

The future shuttle system of Barangay Sun Valley consists of six hundred shuttles that are L300 PETs which cost six hundred thousand pesos per van which means 600 vans cost Php 408 million in total. For every van, there will be a specific amount of money which will be provided for the gas and maintenance of each vehicle monthly. Vans would be traveling across the entire barangay for the entire day which would mean that the vehicles would have to gas up every day or every other day. This would mean that each driver must be paid with a standard wage similar to drivers of buses and shuttles.

Wages and salaries of security personnel

The minimum wage of a security guard is 8,000 pesos monthly. Since there will be security guards that will also work as crossing guards which would mean that they would receive a bigger salary than other security guards which would be 12,000 pesos. There will be 8 to 12 guards per parking space which means that there might be from 24 to 36 guards in Sun Valley. In order to keep this community secure and safe, we will allot 400,000 pesos in order to hire more guards.

Source of Funds

One source of funds that will be needed will come from the Internal Revenue Allotment program which originate from the Department of Budget and Development. Based on the Internal Revenue Allotment program, it has given barangays 20% shares from the division of taxes that will be provided by the government. It is stated that the uses of funds given and from the government are:

To fund basic services and facilities pursuant to Section 17 of the Local Government Code of 1991 particularly those which have been devolved by the National Government.
To fund development projects as identified in the LGUs Annual Investment Plan (Section 287 of the LGC directs LGUs to set aside not less than 20% of their IRA for development projects).

With the LGUs that exist within the barangay that are economically responsible for the funds they are given for the development of the area, they may ask for the funds they need as long they do use it for the community. This is not the only way of getting of funds.

Local and foreign investment is a possible source of funds which can provide a sum of funds for the community's development. Companies which exists inside the current and present community can invest their shares towards the local government unit in order to collect more funds for the development of Sun Valley even if small businesses can get involved. With the combination of corporate companies and businesses investing at Sun Valley, we may be able to collect funds for the community in exchange for allowing them to develop and establish their branches and sell their products here, benefiting both the investor and group asking for the investment. Companies like Mini-Stop, 7-11, and other companies can invest here which in exchange for more branches to exist in Sun Valley. Corporate Social Responsibility is a practice wherein businesses do initiatives which benefit society in that area for which in this case is Sun Valley. Foreign investors are welcome to invest in this community if there are investors which have an interest in the countries.

SWOT ANALYSIS- PARKING BUILDINGSAND SHUTTLE AND BIKE SYSTEM

A rotonda will be strategically placed on the main road of the community, which branches out into District 1, Zone B, District 2, and Zone A (refer to map). Studies have shown that roundabouts are safer than traditional stop sign or signal controlled intersections. This is influenced by several factors such as low travel speeds, the absence of a light to beat, and one-way travel. Roads entering a roundabout are curved in order to direct drivers into the intersection and allow them to travel counterclockwise around the roundabout. The curved roads and one-way travel around the roundabout eliminate the possibility for head-on and T-Bone collisions.

Traffic Safety Measures and Safety Policies

These will be evenly distributed along the main road of the barangay as well as all minor roads to ensure the safety of the motorists as well as the pedestrians.

Zoning

Along with the traffic management scheme, we, as a team, decided to relocate the infrastructures and residential areas in Barangay Sun Valley in order to properly zone out such areas (refer to the map). The barangay will be divided into 3 residential districts and 2 commercial zones. District 1 with the size of 314 226m², will contain only houses, District 2, 304 704m², will contain Public Housing Condominiums which will be funded by the Philippine Government, and District 3, with the area of 314 226m² will be limited to townhouses. Morever, Zone A, 274 947.75m² and B, 303 513.75 m², will comprise of commercial establishments such as schools, daycare centers, churches, health centers, drug stores, etc. The 8 triangles (refer to map) will serve as areas for factories as well as future businesses and investments. Factories are placed particularly distant from the main residential and commercial areas to avoid disruption, unwanted pollution and noise within these areas.

Zoning has various benefits. First, it promotes public health, welfare and safety as the separation of residential areas from industrial areas may reduce air pollution. In addition to this, it promotes public peace, comfort and convenience since it separates noisy industries from quiet neighborhoods. With zoning, unnecessary congestion of buildings and establishments will be prevented. Commercial areas take up a lot of space; thus, if we set them apart from the residential areas, the residents will not be disturbed.

SUMMARY

PART FIVE

In order to effectively reduce the heavy road congestion which takes place in Barangay Sun Valley, we have teamed up propose a traffic scheme aimed towards lessening the number of vehicles on the minor roads of the entire barangay through the implementation of the use of shuttles and bikes as the new mode of transportation within the vicinity of its residential and commercial areas. This system, based on the “Park-and-ride” scheme, allows motorists to park their vehicles in one of the four parking buildings located along the main road of the community and will take a shuttle or bike to their designated homes or desired destinations. The shuttle system will be available to residents and visitors 24 hours daily to allow transportation around the different districts and zones at any given time. The bikes, on the other hand, will be provided as an alternative to the shuttles. These will be hand-made Bamboo bicycles, sponsored by Bambike, a socio-ecological enterprise coming from Gawad Kalinga, that hand-makes bamboo bicycles with fair-trade labor and sustainable building practices. This being said, 15-seater shuttles and bikes will act as the only mode of transportation within the minor roads in the barangay. This scheme is also accompanied by other particular aspects such as road reconstruction and widening. Because Barangay Sun Valley suffers from narrow and bumpy roads at present, the community will have one main road or boulevard, 34.5 meters wide, which will act as the only road that will accommodate all types of vehicles. Aside from the main road or boulevard, the barangay will contain a number of minor roads within each district and zone which will be 17.25 meters wide. Aside from road widening, our scheme will impose the construction of a rotonda, for this is particularly effective in reducing the number of accidents on the road. We will also implement stricter road measures and policies and appoint more traffic enforcers in order to ensure the safety and order needed for the community. Lastly, 3 distinct entrances and exits to the area will be made to lessen the traffic within the area which will be coherently zoned into three residential districts and two commercial zones. This is to organize the entire community and free it from unwanted pollution, noise, etc. Overall, we hope for the support of local government as well as the barangay officials, so that we can effectively work hand in hand to address the existing issue of traffic through this traffic management scheme. The success of this project will be based on cooperation from the residents, visitors and officials in the area. Together, we can reduce of the overall impact of congestion, as well as ensure the safety, peace and order of the entire community.

REFERENCES

PART SIX