Trinity Falls - Preserving the Character of Trinity Falls

What makes a great master-planned community great?

When we stop to consider what makes for a desirable place to live, most of us think of nice homes and recreation centers, but rarely does a community get its start with a world-class nature preserve at its heart. As the centerpiece of the new Trinity Falls community, Trinity Falls B.B. Owen Park is a 330-acre park running along two miles of wooded frontage on the East Fork of the Trinity River.

While the park is a big story in itself, with its abundant lakes, fields, and trails, it is the Trinity River's powerful influence on the surrounding landscape that captured the design team's imagination and led them to incorporate its natural qualities and flowing lines into the design of community's main entry. Given that the average visitor forms a lasting impression of a community within moments of their arrival, the team set out to ensure that the design of the entry experience to Trinity Falls would clearly communicate these important qualities to visitors. To achieve this goal, three fundamental design objectives were established for the Trinity Falls Boulevard entry experience:

• Context: Creating a strong visual relationship with the surrounding landscape or context is an important goal for every successful community. Without that, we have little more than just another "cookie-cutter" subdivision. Borrowing from the sinuous lines of the river for the Trinity Falls Boulevard alignment, the team was able to satisfy local transportation engineering requirements while also creating a driving experience that just feels right for the community. 
• Preservation: The curvilinear roadway concept also enabled greater flexibility that allowed the team to work around large existing trees on the site. These mature trees and wooded areas create an established feel to the community, preserve the unique ecosystem of the Trinity River corridor, and protect existing wildlife habitat.  
• Safety: Trails are important to all homebuyers, and Trinity Falls will have miles of them when complete. It is important to recognize, however, that the sidewalks that run along every street should also contribute to a safe and pleasant pedestrian experience. Generous meandering walks with shaded seating run throughout the Trinity Falls Boulevard corridor, furthering the reference to the winding river and enhancing pedestrian safety and comfort by providing physical separation from vehicles.

It is rare for a master-planned community to have such an amazing natural resource as Trinity Falls B.B. Owen Park. Trinity Falls has recognized the great value that this resource brings to the community and is designed to embrace and emphasize that context. The result lends a very real sense of place to the community that can be achieved in no other way.

Guest Blog By: Mark W. Smith, Vice President, RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture

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