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Verdant Sound

Started by Swamper77, March 21, 2009, 11:18:26 PM

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Jmouse

Congratulations on your promotion, Jan! You're doing a great job on Verdant Sound, and this latest update holds much promise for more good things to come.

Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us this month...
Joan

RickD

I like your MD very much. Especially all the technical background information. Keep it up!  :thumbsup:
My name is Raphael.
Visit my MD: Empire Bay (My old MD: Santa Barbara County)

bat

Congrats on your award for this great MD, Swamper77!
A lot of fantastic updates with a lot of fantastic pictures there! Wonderful work on your city and region! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Swamper77

Sorry for the delay on updating, but real life is getting busy these days. With the warmer weather, the construction companies are trying to finish their projects, which means my workplace is getting more work that needs to be done ASAP. I'm also planning for my summer road trip to visit a friend over in Eastern Washington. I've been busy lately working out the details of that too. Hopefully things will smooth out soon.


@Joan: Thanks for the feedback.

@Rick: I'm surprised that you liked the technical information. I figured most people won't care for it, but I post it anyways for reference purposes.

@Bat: Thanks!


Today, we are revisiting Misty Plains to see how it is developing. Last time, we saw that things were laid out and just getting started....


The first developments are the industries. Without a source of jobs, the people won't move in. Underground, there is a small oil deposit at this location. More derricks could be built, but then there would be the risk of depleting the deposit too quickly. Currently, the oil is stored in the onsite towers and is later shipped to a refinery that is outside of the region. Later, products made from that oil are shipped here. These products are slightly more expensive due to the transportation costs. A developer would like to build a refinery in Verdant Sound. I'm still looking for a suitable location as refineries are noisy and produce more pollution than the total of the buildings seen here.


With the security of having a job, residents have started to move to Misty Plains. The neighborhood has expanded beyond the initial layout considerably. The roadway heading north goes to the contested valley at the base of Jade Mountain. The developers are still fighting the government to build housing in the valley above these houses.


This is the eastern portion of the neighborhood. The gap between houses is for a future footpath to a park that will be built in the future. The housing plots were laid out like this to avoid building on the hillside here. The park will be built where the trees stand between houses on the right side of the top street and the houses on the lower street.


Downtown Misty Plains, which is currently home to a Citroen dealership and several small businesses. This is the current length of downtown. With future demand, it will expand southwards a block or two and also expand westwards. The roadway heading to the east is a "dead end".


And this is why the roadway is a "dead end". It is a gated gravel access road. This gate is on the industrial side. There is an identical one on the downtown side. This access road is for emergency access only. Now, there aren't any emergency services in Misty Plains yet, but this access road was built in anticipation of them. The road is closed to motor vehicles except for emergency vehicles and maintenance crews.


The access road to the residential substation has been gated off. Only emergency vehicles and maintenance crews have full access to this road. Like the other access road, non-motorized access is still possible so pedestrians and bicyclists can still enjoy the road without fears of being run over.


This is the contested valley. Developers want to build houses up to the base of Jade Mountain. Environmentalists want it to be protected from developers and turned over to the Forest Service for protection. While I would normally side with the environmentalists, I may come up with a compromise between them. The compromise would allow residential development, but would set a limit as to how far they are allowed to do so. The developers would be allowed to build on the flatter section of the valley and would have to stay a certain distance from the mountain's slopes. It's a broad valley floor up there, so they would have to develop sideways across it instead of deep into the valley. The meeting between the developers, environmentalists, and the regional council is next week, so we will have to see how things go at the meeting.

-Jan
You can call me Jan, if you want to.
Pagan and Proud!

nerdly_dood

Not bad, i'm looking forward to seeing the industrial development and what happens with the debate between the developers and the treehuggers... I assume the double-street downtown will be expanded into an avenue in due time?
My days here are numbered. It's been great and I've had a lot of fun, but I've moved on to bigger and better things.
—   EGO  VOBIS  VADELICO   —
Glory be unto the modder and unto the fun and unto the city game!

Tarkus

Jan, I'm sorry I haven't been following here that much lately . . . it seems I've missed quite a bit.  First of all, congrats on the OSITM--I'd say you definitely deserved it!  I'm absolutely impressed by how meticulously you've put everything together here. 

Misty Plains is looking like a nice little town thus far, too.  You have a flair for building in heavily forested areas.  The discussion of environment vs. development is also one that is a very real and present one, and I think you've done a great job of presenting that here.  The gated emergency access route was also very nice touch in particular in this latest update. 

-Alex

Sciurus

Excellent country, I love it, it's very good realized, I love &apls

Guillaume :thumbsup:
L'atelier d'architecture
* * * * * Longwy * * * * *

Ryan B.

Jan, congratulations on your OSITM nomination!  This is one of the best-planned MDs I've ever seen.

&apls  Ten bells to you, good sir.

Pat

Jan looking real sweet here and I cant wait to see Emergency Services finally use that Road  ;).... Also a wee bit late but a congrats on going OSITM!!!!

Don't forget the SC4D Podcast is back and live on Saturdays @ 12 noon CST!! -- The Podcast soon to Return Here Linkie

bat

Misty Plains looks really nice! Wonderful work on it! Looking forward to more...

Swamper77

@Nerdly: The parallel streets will be upgraded to an avenue once traffic conditions warrant such upgrades. Right now, I'm having trouble getting enough traffic to upgrade my network of streets to roads. I have way more streets than roads.

@Alex: Thanks for the feedback. I pay close attention to laws and regulations regarding the environment when they make the news. I also monitor news regarding environmental incidents to see if there is anything I can use for my purposes.

@Guillaume: Thanks.

@Ryan: I wouldn't know about the planning part. I have a general idea of what I want to do, but most of this is done on the fly.

@Pat: You'll may never see that with all the trees surrounding that access road. The access road's main purpose is to provide access to the industrial park in case the main roads leading there are blocked by traffic or accidents. It will most likely never be paved because it won't get much traffic.

@Bat: Thanks for the comments.


I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates this month. I've been sick lately and it has been affecting everything that I do or want to do. My body prefers to sleep when I'm sick and that makes it hard to do anything. Sunny days also affect things, as I rather be out in the sun instead of inside in front of this screen. So I'm sorry this hasn't been the best OSITM for this MD. Hopefully, the next one will be better, if it ever gets the award again.


When we left Misty Plains last time, we had taken a look around and saw contested territory that developers and the government were fighting over. Unlike other governments, the Athair government tends to work closely with the environmentalists. The Athair government has seen the effects of developers when the laws are not enforced, and some of the effects are devastating. Something as simple as removing trees for a better view can cause bigger problems such as a landslide after a heavy rainstorm.


The northern stub of road in the neighborhood has been run up the hill to the new housing development. Houses will not be built on the slopes between the existing and new developments. The developers have named the new neighborhood "Jade Glade" for the forest on this section of Jade Mountain.


This is the current layout of Jade Glade. The developers reached an agreement with the local government and this is as far as they are allowed to build roads up the side of Jade Mountain. They can add another strip of housing on the empty edge of the northern street, but they cannot go further up Jade Mountain. Housing can also be added to the each side of the current layout, but the streets must run parallel to the main road if the developers decide to add them. The final street layout will probably look like a big digital number 8 when they are done building houses.


To get power up to Jade Glade, an underground conduit has been run up the hill to it. This eliminates the eyesore of high tension lines and another substation from spoiling the scenery up there. Access paths will be added later to these vaults. The red light indicates that the vault is powered. If the light is not lit, then there is an electrical problem within the conduit.


Months later, the housing plots are filled in with new houses and residents. In the northeastern corner of Jade Glade, I've had a new residence built. My primary residence is Independence, so I will only use this one if I have to be in town for a few days for meetings and such. Quite a few of the plots up here are built with small cabins and large lots. They seem to do well on uneven landscapes such as where Jade Glade has been constructed.


With the influx of new residents, a few more shops have opened up in downtown Misty Plains. I'm a little nervous about the fireworks shop being built, but I will allow it to remain as long as the shop keepers are responsible with their storage and sale of their products. Just to the north of downtown, you can see the new high tension poles that have been installed. Power was offline for several hours while the local utility company removed the old high tension towers and installed these ones.


A handful of new industries have opened their doors for business. There isn't much demand for industry right now, but the large block of zoning will remain to await future increase in industrial demand. The trees are being left alone for the time being, despite the developers wanting to cut them down for money. Due to all the trees around the industrial park, the air pollution is quite low which is a good thing.

Speaking of nature, let's head out to the west....

The south fork of Jade Creek ends in Misty Plains and empties into the sea.


Mouth of South Fork Jade Creek. The rocks are remnants of the hill that the creek carved through.


If you thought that some trees were missing just to the left of Jade Creek, they aren't missing. They are just rather short spruce trees and sparsely spread out on the landscape. It's just how this part of the forests turned out.

I hope to see you around next time....
-Jan
You can call me Jan, if you want to.
Pagan and Proud!

Battlecat

Great work as always.  I really like your treatment of that forest in the last picture.  Great natural terrain around here!

Also, congratulations on the OSITM award!   &apls

bat

Fantastic work on the pictures there! The nature looks very nice! :thumbsup:

metarvo

How did I manage to miss this?  Congratulations on OSITM, Jan.  The forests look great, and it really does look like you've worked with the surroundings as opposed to bullying them.  Nice work!

:thumbsup:
Find my power line BAT thread here.
Check out the Noro Cooperative.  What are you waiting for?  It even has electricity.
Want more? Try here.  For even more electrical goodies, look here.
Here are some rural power lines.

petercintn

I am so bad to just look and get ideas and never post, so I will try to turn over a new leaf starting with you.  First thanks for all the cool stuff you have given me to make this game more enjoyable.  Second it's nice to see rural areas as that is how I mainly play. 

Very nice beginning, keep up the good work. Hope to drop in more.
Carolina Tar Heels... National Champs again!

Swamper77

It's been awhile, hasn't it? The long wait has been caused by various factors, and most of them are outside the realm SC4. Mainly, work and other interests are to be blamed for the wait. Things will be changing a bit in regards to updates. I will no longer be posting big updates like I was unless I really need to. My region grows slow due to its rural nature. Smaller updates will allow me to continue developing at my slow rate and not feel rushed to expand to other tiles ASAP just for updating purposes.


Replies:

@Battlecat: Thanks for your comments. The forests will remain for future generations as long as the developers and loggers are kept away from them.

@Bat: Thanks.

@Metarvo: You probably missed it because there hasn't been a whole lot of activity in this MD. I prefer to keep the forests intact. They make it more of a challenge to develop that way.

@Petercintn: I hope you enjoy what you have downloaded and maybe you can get some ideas from this MD for your cities.


The Athair government has been working with the local government during the past few months to create a system to manage the parks and forest lands in Verdant Sound. Recently, the Athair government has given the okay to create both the Parks Service and the Forest Service. The Parks Service oversees the local parks in developed areas and the county parks outside developed areas. The Forest Service oversees the management of the forests, beaches, and other natural areas in the region.


The Regional Ranger Office for Jade Island has been located in Downtown, next door to the fire department.


A couple of months later, the office is open for business. The Parks Service offices are also housed in this building. There's ample parking for visitors and the office staff, as well as the Forest Service Patrols. Several Jeeps are parked on site and the rangers go out on rotating patrols.

The following photos show the newly created Jade Lake Trail as it traverses the hillside alongside Jade Creek. The pictures are in order from Jade Lake to the trailhead parking lot:





The trail wanders through the trees alongside Jade Creek. It is open only to hiking and closed to all other uses, which means no mountain bikes or horses on this trail. The trail ends near the lake shore and future plans call for picnic and camp sites near Jade Lake. This trail is a pilot to see how the Forest Service handles maintaining a trail on Forest lands. Once the rangers get a feel for monitoring this trail, other trails and recreation sites will be created.

I'll see you again next time. In the meantime, why don't you try hiking up to Jade Lake?
-Jan
You can call me Jan, if you want to.
Pagan and Proud!

RickD

Nice trail. The fifth pic is my favorite one. It is very realistic how the river cuts through the terrain and forms the small cliffs.
My name is Raphael.
Visit my MD: Empire Bay (My old MD: Santa Barbara County)

FrankU

A nice MD, Jan.
More comment when there is more time on my side of the clock.

Battlecat

Nice update!  That office complex in the second shot looks quite cool!

evertonforever1

very nice... but might i recommend some logs stuck at the top and in the waterfalls?