Hey everyone! A couple of useful links: Solar Farm Stream: ua-cam.com/video/ut8x7IFAZI4/v-deo.html (with links to assets) Rotterdam: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2474567113 Retailing Walls: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1696299486 Surface Networks: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1875956729&searchtext=surface+network Terraforming Networks: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2105051034. (THANK YOU WILLCS for showing me these!)
Why not just fomarlize it and put a sound dampening cover over the rail linie? read: make it into a tunnel. So it both produces less noise and also does not divide your areas as much.
I think there should be a couple parts that have retaining walls but not the whole neighborhood. But especially on the train tracks would look amazing!
I think more density too. These homes and the view remind me of Cincinnati. Areas like Mount Adams & Clifton where there are tons houses on the hillside with awesome views of downtown. The Mount Adams area is usually higher priced homes with little to no yard but has some night life. Clifton full of college students and tightly packed narrow homes. Some of the roads these houses are located are along very steep streets that can closed off when it snows.
Great video!!! Love the Nicolette Bay and Clearwater County builds! I would really really like to see a town in one of them with a walking/pedestrian zone being built along both side of a river with a lot of bridge assets to make it feel like a small German immigrant town! Bad Münstereifel is a town in Germany that may give you inspiration!
It would be fitting in Clearwater County since Wisconsin had a lot of German immigrants. Michigan's upper peninsula, not so much. That area had Finnish immigrants instead.
Not saying it wouldn't be cool, but placing a town that would've existed previous to anything else in the build would break CPP's theme of growing the county chronologically as well as focusing on the native tribes that called the area home for longer than the US has existed. I might be able to imagine some kind of initiative that took inspiration from a different time and place like you suggest but it would also need to be modern in order not to feel like Countries of the World in Epcot. And I'm not sure how the mayor would feel about diverting resources to an area celebrating European immigration to the area. Kinda an ugly thought but I don't see it going over well. I do like riverwalks though. I'll mark my vote on that.
I lived in hilly suburbs for a long time, and those areas can become extremely desirable if paired with good amenities and landscaping. Can't wait to see the hills turn into Clearwater County's Hamptons
I think there should be both. Especially near the train tracks the retaining walls would make sense and look great. Any areas with steeper than usual grades should have retaining walls and then the rest should be natural imo
A cool idea would be to put an obelisk or monument of some kind in the little half circle right in line with the State House. Idk why but the hill neighborhood reminds me of Everett MA where the Bunker hill monument is. The memorial could be for a small battle which took place between the French and English during the French and Indian war being that this is in territory that would have once been New France and would have been fought over during that war. This idea could also work in Nicolette Bay.
The bit at approx 30 mins in with the retaining wall and network terraforming below looks like it would make an absolute awesome space for a bike or pedestrian facility. Where I live there are actually quite a few pedestrian paths in similair places, between houses on a hill, They make some of the nicest views in the town and are extremely useful for moving about the town efficiently.
Happy to see you've crossed the tracks to build some suburbs in the hills now. Its good to see that outward expansion. I personally liked it with the retaining wall, although with not as high of a wall. It made that section look a bit more planned and 'cleaner' although it all looked great with or without. I'd have probably put housing along the sloped roads also and made the lots more defined with fences or hedges, but i don't think its an issue that you haven't, in fact the spread out housing with the trees gives the feeling that its quite quaint and rural, even though its literally on the capital doorstep. In the past you often like to slope the roads as much as possible so I also like you've kept them quite steap here. A lot of hilly places have roads like that and steaper, as you pointed out. For example, This summer i was in Izmir in Turkey and sir, let me tell you them roads are insane. So steap in several places the path is actually stairs. They even have an elevator in one place so people don't have to walk the 9596958 steps. As someone who lives in an area that is as flat as a pancake it almost killed me but to people living there it is normal.
Hey, I live in pittsburgh, and I can say from experience, on those roads that go straight up and down, you want to remove the house directly at the bottom of the intersection and place a guard rail there (or a few large trees, or both really) to prevent cars in the winter from sliding down and off the hill into the train trench when it gets icy and snowy. I know that doesn't happen in cities but its a realism thing, and with how steep those slopes are I'd be concearned about cars in the winter with ice and snow.
i live in glasgow, and have been to edinburgh multiple times, which is infamous for being one of the few places that it feels like you walk up a hill to get somewhere, and walk up another hill to get back. its a really interesting city from a planning perspective, so if you want to do more hill work, i suggest having a look.
Hey CPP, great episode! The development was a huge need and doing so in Van Buren certainly is appropriate. That said, I do think that there would be lots of value in taking the time to do the work required to add an extra row of housing in between those blocks. VB is screaming for population and all of this growth would go a long way toward helping solve a lot of the constant abandonment issues in your commercial zones that we see every time we pan through downtown VB or Ashland (even though the demand has finally risen again). So I vote stream. The city and county desperately needs the tax base and more importantly the workforce. Btw, your City Tours have leveled up 💯
Wausau Wi is a great example of a city with some massive slopes. When I was going to University there, during the winter, the road that led to the parking lot for the dorms was so steep it was impossible to get up it. Took me forever to find an alternative path (that wasn’t a steep incline) to get up to the lot. And once I did, I still had to carefully drive down the hill a bit to get to the driveway to the parking lot and pray I didn’t slide all the way down into 4 lanes of busy traffic. So grateful I don’t have to deal with that anymore 😂. Great video as always. I always look forward to the Clearwater videos.
Ha - you went to UWMC, too? I went there for a semester a million years ago. My uncle lives on the East Side on one of those hills with MASSIVE slopes. Christmas is always interesting!
@@CityPlannerPlays I was there 2008-2010 I believe, took a year of social science courses mainly and than switched to music for 2 years. Hope you had a great thanksgiving.
Hey CCP! I was wondering - have you considered making like, a small ski / sledding resort as one of your upcoming winter builds for VB? :) I feel like the midwest has a lot of these.
I think there's a case for a mid-row of housing across one of those blocks - infilling that space would likely be quite an attractive proposition for a developer once the area is established.
You and one other guy are the only ones I enjoy watching build cities for one simple reason your voice isn't obnoxious which doesn't distract me from the educational experience. Good work. I love the episodes where you show how to take less ideal terrain and make it into amazing communities.
Love the hilly terrain! Brings back fond memories of Arlington, VA, where 7-10% grade is fairly common. There's very limited high density zoning areas, so no matter how weird the lot, it gets used.
I meant to post this on the live stream video and was not sure if you go back to those comments. In Ashland, you have building in the downtown that is sitting in the middle of a road. It has been there for a very long time and thought someone else would have caught it and commented on it. Have been watching for quite awhile and enjoy your content. :)
Great episode, loving the new neighbourhood! I would love to see a dirt/gravel path through the middle of the neighbourhood, it would be an excellent place to go for a jog in between the trees or to walk your dog to the dog park.
Love this build! I grew up in a hilly neighborhood very much like this where our back yard had a brick retaining wall that dropped about 20ft into or neighbors back yard. These kinds of locations are so nice for the feeling of privacy without actually living separated from the local community.
You decided to use the Big Urban Roads for the streetlights, but you're building right next to an observatory anyway, and they need dark skies. The University would throw a fit over those streetlights. Personally, I'd love a stream to add retaining walls and densify that neighborhood.
Hey Phil, don't forget that once you switch the node to sloped, you still have to make sure it's sloping along the correct axis. in the case of the intersection at 11:03 you'd need to slope along the red and green edges to get the effect you're talking about here, which you would do by switching the slope mode to manual and then holding Alt to edit the slope also... what in the world is pickle ball!?!?
Beautiful views all across the neighborhood! I hope the cars going down those hills have good brakes or else those park goers 43:30 might have a quick visit to the hospital. Although, with TWO Phillips, they might have to worry about more than the hospital bills!
Love the video! Clearwater County keeps getting better. Just one suggestion: Maybe add a few more small trees in between the the houses long the hill. I think that having a few more trees could really give that neighborhood a nice natural feel.
I think for if/when you switch to a winter build, you should build a custom snow tubing/ sledding hill, and perhaps a ski hill. The in-game gondolas could act as the ride up the slope for recreationalists. Perhaps there are other mods and assets that could help. And when not winter, the hills would be part of a hiking trail system. Or even a big slipnslide!
I would love to have an episode where some of the busy intersections and highway overpasses get "fixed." I.E. add turning lanes to help shorten the lines of cars from backing up onto the highway.
A little landscaped place with a path, a garden, and a statue could look very nice in that semicircle! Also, I think that retaining wall might really bring the personality of the neighbourhood.. I suggest something like Parapet or Buttress Heights the huuuge retaining wall is reminiscent of a castle wall. The parapet is the top of a castle wall or tower, and a buttress is a sticky-outey bit that props up a castle wall to give a bit more reinforcement!
I think that the retaining wall idea looks good it just needs to be more subtle, on another note maybe the county should looks into using some of that new green energy and maybe making the passenger rail service electrified so you could get higher speeds with trains and hopefully get more ridership.
Hi CPP! Great video, I prefer the light landscaping across the hillside. It makes it feel slightly more private and secluded but still preserving views of the capitol. 😄😄😄
More retaining walls, please sir! This episode was beautiful. Let's respect that process of building retaining walls, if we're going to disrespect the topography! Let's goooo!
Really interesting build! I’m a little concerned with how close that neighborhood with streetlights is to the very light sensitive telescope. Can’t imagine the Astronomy Department is super happy with it!
@@CityPlannerPlays Looking at it again in episode 67 and I think you could get away with placing some thick tree cover to help buffer both light and noise. Might be a good compromise?
Looks like bikers were despawning at 40:50 when you made that bike path into a bridge connection. Not sure why, though. Edit: love the new-style city tour that's just still shots instead of a constant pan - easier to follow!
Great video! Always excited to see a new one pop up on my notifications! I would love to see a pedestrian path along side the retaining wall and running across the entire length of the new neighborhood. My area has something similar called the Greenway
Build more of these neighborhoods (maybe a bit more dense) up the hill overlooking the Van Buren inner city. In terms of scale it will make the city look great.
hey phil! since winter is coming up i think one great use in a neighborhood with hills would be a sledding hill! add a little recreation for the coming season!
Hi Phil! There's a setting in NODE controller where you slope the node by default as soon as you select it, don't have to click all the time :D Great vid as always
I love the retaining wall and though more homes would be a good thing to add, what might be easier and an amazing facility would be something like a bike facility or walkable path along it. Just a thought from an avid viewer! Great video, as always, Phil!
The new hillside community may need to rethink the streetlights near the observatory because light pollution can be a real issue. Love your videos thank you.
Agreed! There would probably be some kind of light pollution ordinance for properties within a certain distance / sight line of the observatory - even if it's a teaching observatory, not a deep space observation one.
Love the build! I have a couple of small things: - You talked about fencing in the bike path next to the train track, I would continue that railing all along the path for increased safety. - The path from the cul-de-sac to the train station is sort of disconnected from the rest of the neighborhood, maybe a path from the road above down to the cul-de-sac? Would also allow for another connection from the university. -maybe this doesn't fit with the character, but since that connection from the neighborhood into the university is so well positioned for the college students, I could totally see a developer cashing in and building a little retail area there, not much but maybe 4 or so business with a palace to buy food and a cafe. I think it would be especially in demand because that part of the campus is a long trek from the rest of town and any retail areas + the residents would totally use it. I do understand though if doesn't quite fit with the suburban style your going for her.
Hey CPP, I'm a Firefighter in Arizona and Pickleball is huge out here! It's actually pretty popular in our Fire Department and when we have some free time we definitely get down at local pickle ball courts!
I love the way you build neighborhoods :) A friend of mine and his family have lived in an area around Northern Virginia where land value has been increasing recently. Between the single family homes where there is not enough space to build any home, the community built a trail and it connects to other neighborhoods. I believe that is an excellent way to increase the pedestrian activity as well as the overall land value :) The newly developed area’s community might love to consider this idea as to add some of the nature features to their day-to-day activities by that trail. Thanks a lot for your gameplays that reflects real life applications 👏🏻👏🏻🙏🏼
Pickleball is the best! We have 4 courts in our town park in Glens Falls, NY and they are constantly being used. People will even come out with leaf blowers to dry the courts after it rains!
I lived in San Francisco and regularly drove on a street that had about a 25% slope. Even with an automatic transmission I felt uncomfortable starting/stopping at the stop signs on that thing. One of my favorite spots was Divisidero where it crests on the top of pacific heights. It wasn't that steep, but you could see scrape marks there where vehicles bottomed out going over it, and more than once I saw big rig trucks stuck there that for whatever reason tried to take it as their route. One time they made it over the crest going up, but got stuck going down the other side, which left the cab dangling in the air. It was quite the sight.
Hi Phil, I love the new neighbourhood, I'm from a hilly area and the flat is dull. I was excited to find out if you create the bike bridge and the connection from the cul-de-sac, and happy that you did. I'd like to suggest extending the bike facility from the bike bridge to the Uni, using the lower road, then switching to the upper using the 45-degree street. You might say the slope is too steep, but e-bikes being accessible these days it's not a concern anymore. Also, a park could be painted between the upper and lower road all along, providing walking paths. Shrubs and not very tall trees could create hiding places for small wildlife and would increase land value. The retaining wall is too much for my taste, and it blocks wildlife movement.
Reminds me of the hill in Duluth, MN. I would have to drive to the top of the hill in the winter on a main road and then slowly work my way down back to home
I was also looking forward to this episode, and now we can look forward to the road that will bypass the golf course and Shorewood and connect to the highway.
I’ve seen the walls-and-fake-ground trick before on videos by the Akruas and the like, but frankly they’re on a level so far beyond me that I couldn’t really follow. Thanks for explaining this so well. It seems to me you could do additional tiers of housing that way too, especially if the homes are only on one side of the road. Another idea for the big empty space between the upper and lower levels might be foot paths (possibly park life ones) crossing them diagonally (for maximum horizontal distance and thus minimum slope) and meeting in the middle to form an X. That way it would be possible to walk from one corner to the opposite, or to switchback up one of the vertical roads without having to walk straight up that steep slope.
Loved the video and everything turned out beautifully. I know you have a large community to please but I do think the retaining walls add a nice touch of detailing to the neighborhoods. Hills are also a thing to navigate in higher land value subdivisions as well as in a rural area on the outskirts of most towns so please do this more often and not worry so much about the grade police!
Great build as always! Love that retaining wall and it will really be fun to walls for the train tracks. This area is really something that one will wish to live in.
Still loving all your content 😁 I didn't get to catch your CC live stream, but watched the video after and it was nice in the format you set it with. The retaining wall looks good, but I think the sloped terrain looks better, as you could just use some fences around the houses to help "protect" then lots. Keep up the great work 👍😊
Beacon Hill. The roads are one ways to mitigate the issue of them being steep. Even though some of the UP roads are so steep in parts that they are nearly undrivable in winter due to ice on the road.
I love pickleball! We played it in highschool gym class. So funny to see it coming into the limelight more now. I also just saw they have professional pickleball on TV!
I love this build! However, you might want to consider moving the observatory due to the light pollution from Van Buren. Especially now that you are building up the hillside underneath it.
Love the retaining walls, looks great. It's funny to me that you put houses on the slope. I live in Vancouver, and I can tell you, without a doubt, that here that new neighborhood would be all condos. 🙃
Been looking forward to another Clearwater episode since I missed out on the stream l. 'Capital View' sounds like a great name for the road along the higher section imo.
As a skateboarder those steep roads serve as almost mini attractions for skaters to hill bomb on. Now thats either a good thing or a bad thing depending how you look at it. I definitely am always looking at my city and going "Ooh that looks great to skate"
Longtime viewer, first time commenter. Loved the build, reminded me a bit of a neighborhood near where I live in Grand Rapids MI called Belknap Lookout, which is separated from the downtown by an arterial and a very steep hill. A couple things that neighborhood has which I think could improve this neighborhood in Van Buren: 1) some carefully targeted residential density, something like a 3 or 4-over-1, that would have great views but wouldn't overwhelm the surrounding homes, and 2) a special park space dedicated to the views of the downtown and capital, like the Lookout Park in Grand Rapids.
Phil this is so weird but like...i fucking love falling asleep to your voice. I love when I wake up in the middle of the night and i still hear your voice and it's like comforting and safe. Your voice hits me in that A1 steak sauce spot like it tingles me in the back of my jaw lol
Wow! I never knew how to use those retaining walls 🤩 And because it's a network, you could use the node controller on the network surfaces also and twist the ends! 🤯
I think the retaining wall neighborhood feels more modern. I don’t know that the retaining wall is totally necessary through the entire neighborhood. I feel like it would be more necessary with a narrower green space in between the streets. What you did here looks great!
Love pickleball. My partner and I have a couple friend that we play with in the summers. Would be nice for some modders to add pickleball courts to the game. Another beautiful build. Love the new neighborhood and I think the retaining wall was the right idea.
Yay, finally the city gained some shape and you went into the hills. I'm absolutely loving it and the retaining walls are a chef's kiss. For inspiration you could check Jeremy Thunder and Akruas, they do wonders with them. I'd add another connection to the left side of the hill, as the diagonal collector could go through the tracks, and the district could become a bit wider. And definitely I'd want to see some higher levels of the hill utilized!
I haven't watched any of your other streams, so I can't speak on improvements, but I did watch this last one, and it was one of the only streams I have ever been interested in watching. It looked great, and it did feel like a "video-like" experience. P.S. your videos are great!
36:30 out where I live in Western Washington every winter we have issues with landslides on the train tracks that make the commuter rail lines unusable sometimes for weeks, so I say yes on the quay walls In front of the railroad tracks.
I have an idea for this neighborhood. On a slope like that, there needs to be some sort of public park that would be natural place for the kids to go sledding in the winter, with a straight downhill slope that wouldn't terminate with them sledding into the path of traffic. That would be really neat.
Great video as always I did love thar cliff beside the Raulroad track and was sort of sad to see it go. Other than that little detail i totally dig every aspect of the look of this community! Dogs love hills. In thr winter my doggy will slide down hills on her belly in the snow 😀 great work sir!!
I like to use the Parallel Tool to put in retaining walls. You can use any of the wall assets, even without having water. So you can lay down a path even, then delete it later. Use Move It to make things perfect. Nice build.
I know these slopes may look crazy but I lived in West Virginia for years and these kind of slopes were just the norm. Same in Central and Western Pennsylvania. Really teaches you how to drive in inclement weather.
When you mentioned the inability to place fences on those retaining wall sections you should be able to use Intersection Marking Tool as those grasses and walls are both networks
The retaining wall is such a great idea. I think to enhance the realism you could consider a version of erosion control on the hillside such as small trees and shrubs or on the steep slopes, netting.
Hey everyone! A couple of useful links:
Solar Farm Stream: ua-cam.com/video/ut8x7IFAZI4/v-deo.html (with links to assets)
Rotterdam: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2474567113
Retailing Walls: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1696299486
Surface Networks: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1875956729&searchtext=surface+network
Terraforming Networks: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2105051034. (THANK YOU WILLCS for showing me these!)
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Why not just fomarlize it and put a sound dampening cover over the rail linie?
read: make it into a tunnel. So it both produces less noise and also does not divide your areas as much.
What is the name of the foliage painting tool you used?
I think there should be a couple parts that have retaining walls but not the whole neighborhood. But especially on the train tracks would look amazing!
More hillside, more retaining walls, yes please!
Yes! Ut looks beautiful
I think more density too. These homes and the view remind me of Cincinnati. Areas like Mount Adams & Clifton where there are tons houses on the hillside with awesome views of downtown. The Mount Adams area is usually higher priced homes with little to no yard but has some night life. Clifton full of college students and tightly packed narrow homes. Some of the roads these houses are located are along very steep streets that can closed off when it snows.
Yes to all of this!
A few stairs through the retaining walls would be nice too
Great video!!! Love the Nicolette Bay and Clearwater County builds! I would really really like to see a town in one of them with a walking/pedestrian zone being built along both side of a river with a lot of bridge assets to make it feel like a small German immigrant town! Bad Münstereifel is a town in Germany that may give you inspiration!
Almost like in Chicago or New York with the Chicago River or the East River, that would be awesome
@@naterosen9786 exactly! Just smaller scale 😂
It would be fitting in Clearwater County since Wisconsin had a lot of German immigrants. Michigan's upper peninsula, not so much. That area had Finnish immigrants instead.
Not saying it wouldn't be cool, but placing a town that would've existed previous to anything else in the build would break CPP's theme of growing the county chronologically as well as focusing on the native tribes that called the area home for longer than the US has existed.
I might be able to imagine some kind of initiative that took inspiration from a different time and place like you suggest but it would also need to be modern in order not to feel like Countries of the World in Epcot. And I'm not sure how the mayor would feel about diverting resources to an area celebrating European immigration to the area. Kinda an ugly thought but I don't see it going over well.
I do like riverwalks though. I'll mark my vote on that.
I lived in hilly suburbs for a long time, and those areas can become extremely desirable if paired with good amenities and landscaping. Can't wait to see the hills turn into Clearwater County's Hamptons
I say no wall.... I think that the rocky outcrops look so good on this map and add a lot of character to the area. I call for more rocks!
I think there should be both. Especially near the train tracks the retaining walls would make sense and look great. Any areas with steeper than usual grades should have retaining walls and then the rest should be natural imo
Save the Rock! (To quote Biffa)
😁
I think there might be a place for the walls, but the way I did it may not be it... But I agree - interesting cliffs, so we'll work more of them in!
A cool idea would be to put an obelisk or monument of some kind in the little half circle right in line with the State House. Idk why but the hill neighborhood reminds me of Everett MA where the Bunker hill monument is. The memorial could be for a small battle which took place between the French and English during the French and Indian war being that this is in territory that would have once been New France and would have been fought over during that war. This idea could also work in Nicolette Bay.
Sorry Bunker Hill is in Charlestown not Everett!
LOVE that idea! It's coming!
4:44 - new road has a very efficient shape!
RCE intensifies.
You should fence the houses and then use the open space between the streets as a forested walking path thru the whole neighborhood.
Love that idea!!
13:55 those rock formations are nice reminds me of something you will see driving through Missouri especially along some highways
The bit at approx 30 mins in with the retaining wall and network terraforming below looks like it would make an absolute awesome space for a bike or pedestrian facility.
Where I live there are actually quite a few pedestrian paths in similair places, between houses on a hill, They make some of the nicest views in the town and are extremely useful for moving about the town efficiently.
Happy to see you've crossed the tracks to build some suburbs in the hills now. Its good to see that outward expansion. I personally liked it with the retaining wall, although with not as high of a wall. It made that section look a bit more planned and 'cleaner' although it all looked great with or without. I'd have probably put housing along the sloped roads also and made the lots more defined with fences or hedges, but i don't think its an issue that you haven't, in fact the spread out housing with the trees gives the feeling that its quite quaint and rural, even though its literally on the capital doorstep. In the past you often like to slope the roads as much as possible so I also like you've kept them quite steap here. A lot of hilly places have roads like that and steaper, as you pointed out. For example, This summer i was in Izmir in Turkey and sir, let me tell you them roads are insane. So steap in several places the path is actually stairs. They even have an elevator in one place so people don't have to walk the 9596958 steps. As someone who lives in an area that is as flat as a pancake it almost killed me but to people living there it is normal.
Hey, I live in pittsburgh, and I can say from experience, on those roads that go straight up and down, you want to remove the house directly at the bottom of the intersection and place a guard rail there (or a few large trees, or both really) to prevent cars in the winter from sliding down and off the hill into the train trench when it gets icy and snowy. I know that doesn't happen in cities but its a realism thing, and with how steep those slopes are I'd be concearned about cars in the winter with ice and snow.
i live in glasgow, and have been to edinburgh multiple times, which is infamous for being one of the few places that it feels like you walk up a hill to get somewhere, and walk up another hill to get back. its a really interesting city from a planning perspective, so if you want to do more hill work, i suggest having a look.
Hey fellow Glaswegian! Dundee would be a good suggestion too with the Law hill
i live in edinburgh and its shite
I'm in Edinburgh and got really sad when that sloping park got deleted. It was really no worse than Starbank Park!
@@gueur1473 oh glasgows ten times better LMAO but edinburghs city planning is actually really cool
Hey CPP, great episode! The development was a huge need and doing so in Van Buren certainly is appropriate. That said, I do think that there would be lots of value in taking the time to do the work required to add an extra row of housing in between those blocks. VB is screaming for population and all of this growth would go a long way toward helping solve a lot of the constant abandonment issues in your commercial zones that we see every time we pan through downtown VB or Ashland (even though the demand has finally risen again). So I vote stream. The city and county desperately needs the tax base and more importantly the workforce.
Btw, your City Tours have leveled up 💯
Great idea! Let me see what we can do. The blocks are way, way too big!
Wausau Wi is a great example of a city with some massive slopes. When I was going to University there, during the winter, the road that led to the parking lot for the dorms was so steep it was impossible to get up it. Took me forever to find an alternative path (that wasn’t a steep incline) to get up to the lot. And once I did, I still had to carefully drive down the hill a bit to get to the driveway to the parking lot and pray I didn’t slide all the way down into 4 lanes of busy traffic. So grateful I don’t have to deal with that anymore 😂.
Great video as always. I always look forward to the Clearwater videos.
Ha - you went to UWMC, too? I went there for a semester a million years ago. My uncle lives on the East Side on one of those hills with MASSIVE slopes. Christmas is always interesting!
@@CityPlannerPlays I was there 2008-2010 I believe, took a year of social science courses mainly and than switched to music for 2 years.
Hope you had a great thanksgiving.
Hey CCP! I was wondering - have you considered making like, a small ski / sledding resort as one of your upcoming winter builds for VB? :) I feel like the midwest has a lot of these.
Yes! I really want to add one this year!
I think there's a case for a mid-row of housing across one of those blocks - infilling that space would likely be quite an attractive proposition for a developer once the area is established.
Completely agree. Mulligan time!
I'm not sure I'd go full mulligan... where I live at the moment, a developer is buying up people's gardens to build a row of bungalows....
You and one other guy are the only ones I enjoy watching build cities for one simple reason your voice isn't obnoxious which doesn't distract me from the educational experience. Good work. I love the episodes where you show how to take less ideal terrain and make it into amazing communities.
Love the hilly terrain! Brings back fond memories of Arlington, VA, where 7-10% grade is fairly common. There's very limited high density zoning areas, so no matter how weird the lot, it gets used.
Retaining wall steam sounds like a chill stream
I meant to post this on the live stream video and was not sure if you go back to those comments. In Ashland, you have building in the downtown that is sitting in the middle of a road. It has been there for a very long time and thought someone else would have caught it and commented on it.
Have been watching for quite awhile and enjoy your content. :)
city tours getting better and better! so nice to have street level views!
That hillside terrace look is so unique! I'd love a stream of that!
Great episode, loving the new neighbourhood! I would love to see a dirt/gravel path through the middle of the neighbourhood, it would be an excellent place to go for a jog in between the trees or to walk your dog to the dog park.
Love this build! I grew up in a hilly neighborhood very much like this where our back yard had a brick retaining wall that dropped about 20ft into or neighbors back yard. These kinds of locations are so nice for the feeling of privacy without actually living separated from the local community.
You decided to use the Big Urban Roads for the streetlights, but you're building right next to an observatory anyway, and they need dark skies. The University would throw a fit over those streetlights.
Personally, I'd love a stream to add retaining walls and densify that neighborhood.
Hey, Phill. Luv your videos. I'd suggest u move the observatory a bit farther away from the city lights, more towards the mountains
Hi form Athens GR. You are such a big talent, your voice is like a liquid gold, you can easily a radio producer.
Hey Phil, don't forget that once you switch the node to sloped, you still have to make sure it's sloping along the correct axis. in the case of the intersection at 11:03 you'd need to slope along the red and green edges to get the effect you're talking about here, which you would do by switching the slope mode to manual and then holding Alt to edit the slope
also... what in the world is pickle ball!?!?
Beautiful views all across the neighborhood! I hope the cars going down those hills have good brakes or else those park goers 43:30 might have a quick visit to the hospital. Although, with TWO Phillips, they might have to worry about more than the hospital bills!
Love the video! Clearwater County keeps getting better. Just one suggestion: Maybe add a few more small trees in between the the houses long the hill. I think that having a few more trees could really give that neighborhood a nice natural feel.
I think for if/when you switch to a winter build, you should build a custom snow tubing/ sledding hill, and perhaps a ski hill. The in-game gondolas could act as the ride up the slope for recreationalists. Perhaps there are other mods and assets that could help. And when not winter, the hills would be part of a hiking trail system. Or even a big slipnslide!
I would love to have an episode where some of the busy intersections and highway overpasses get "fixed." I.E. add turning lanes to help shorten the lines of cars from backing up onto the highway.
A little landscaped place with a path, a garden, and a statue could look very nice in that semicircle!
Also, I think that retaining wall might really bring the personality of the neighbourhood.. I suggest something like Parapet or Buttress Heights the huuuge retaining wall is reminiscent of a castle wall. The parapet is the top of a castle wall or tower, and a buttress is a sticky-outey bit that props up a castle wall to give a bit more reinforcement!
I think that the retaining wall idea looks good it just needs to be more subtle, on another note maybe the county should looks into using some of that new green energy and maybe making the passenger rail service electrified so you could get higher speeds with trains and hopefully get more ridership.
My town in Massachusetts has recently added a dog park and pickleball courts to their parks. Figured you’d appreciate that lil fact Phil!!
I think the name Train Hill would fit the neighborhood well.
Also, it will be great to add more retaining walls
Yes! Pittsburgh is a prime example of bending the terrain to your will! It has lead to some really interesting locations and views
Hi CPP! Great video, I prefer the light landscaping across the hillside. It makes it feel slightly more private and secluded but still preserving views of the capitol. 😄😄😄
More retaining walls, please sir! This episode was beautiful. Let's respect that process of building retaining walls, if we're going to disrespect the topography! Let's goooo!
Really interesting build! I’m a little concerned with how close that neighborhood with streetlights is to the very light sensitive telescope. Can’t imagine the Astronomy Department is super happy with it!
Great catch - I'll get those removed!
@@CityPlannerPlays Looking at it again in episode 67 and I think you could get away with placing some thick tree cover to help buffer both light and noise. Might be a good compromise?
WOW this was an awesome city tour Phil! Really appreciated it, nice job
Looks like bikers were despawning at 40:50 when you made that bike path into a bridge connection. Not sure why, though.
Edit: love the new-style city tour that's just still shots instead of a constant pan - easier to follow!
Great video! Always excited to see a new one pop up on my notifications! I would love to see a pedestrian path along side the retaining wall and running across the entire length of the new neighborhood. My area has something similar called the Greenway
Concur, 25:00 instead of bisecting with a road, make a path with woods Greenway. Still use retaining walls as needed along with trees for cover.
Build more of these neighborhoods (maybe a bit more dense) up the hill overlooking the Van Buren inner city. In terms of scale it will make the city look great.
hey phil! since winter is coming up i think one great use in a neighborhood with hills would be a sledding hill! add a little recreation for the coming season!
Hi Phil! There's a setting in NODE controller where you slope the node by default as soon as you select it, don't have to click all the time :D Great vid as always
WHOA! Seriously?? I'm going to get that set. Thank you!!
Wow. those views of the city are stunning!
I love the retaining wall and though more homes would be a good thing to add, what might be easier and an amazing facility would be something like a bike facility or walkable path along it. Just a thought from an avid viewer! Great video, as always, Phil!
The new hillside community may need to rethink the streetlights near the observatory because light pollution can be a real issue. Love your videos thank you.
Agreed! There would probably be some kind of light pollution ordinance for properties within a certain distance / sight line of the observatory - even if it's a teaching observatory, not a deep space observation one.
Love the build! I have a couple of small things:
- You talked about fencing in the bike path next to the train track, I would continue that railing all along the path for increased safety.
- The path from the cul-de-sac to the train station is sort of disconnected from the rest of the neighborhood, maybe a path from the road above down to the cul-de-sac? Would also allow for another connection from the university.
-maybe this doesn't fit with the character, but since that connection from the neighborhood into the university is so well positioned for the college students, I could totally see a developer cashing in and building a little retail area there, not much but maybe 4 or so business with a palace to buy food and a cafe. I think it would be especially in demand because that part of the campus is a long trek from the rest of town and any retail areas + the residents would totally use it. I do understand though if doesn't quite fit with the suburban style your going for her.
Hey CPP, I'm a Firefighter in Arizona and Pickleball is huge out here! It's actually pretty popular in our Fire Department and when we have some free time we definitely get down at local pickle ball courts!
Love how the build turned out! Maybe you could put a sign on road arch at the entrance or a fountain, it would be really nice
Definitely wanna see some retaining wall neighborhoods
I love the way you build neighborhoods :) A friend of mine and his family have lived in an area around Northern Virginia where land value has been increasing recently. Between the single family homes where there is not enough space to build any home, the community built a trail and it connects to other neighborhoods. I believe that is an excellent way to increase the pedestrian activity as well as the overall land value :) The newly developed area’s community might love to consider this idea as to add some of the nature features to their day-to-day activities by that trail. Thanks a lot for your gameplays that reflects real life applications 👏🏻👏🏻🙏🏼
Pickleball is the best! We have 4 courts in our town park in Glens Falls, NY and they are constantly being used. People will even come out with leaf blowers to dry the courts after it rains!
I lived in San Francisco and regularly drove on a street that had about a 25% slope. Even with an automatic transmission I felt uncomfortable starting/stopping at the stop signs on that thing.
One of my favorite spots was Divisidero where it crests on the top of pacific heights. It wasn't that steep, but you could see scrape marks there where vehicles bottomed out going over it, and more than once I saw big rig trucks stuck there that for whatever reason tried to take it as their route. One time they made it over the crest going up, but got stuck going down the other side, which left the cab dangling in the air. It was quite the sight.
The retaining walls are on point. When you used the tools to flatten the ground, there were images of the great city skylines players.
Hi Phil, I love the new neighbourhood, I'm from a hilly area and the flat is dull.
I was excited to find out if you create the bike bridge and the connection from the cul-de-sac, and happy that you did.
I'd like to suggest extending the bike facility from the bike bridge to the Uni, using the lower road, then switching to the upper using the 45-degree street. You might say the slope is too steep, but e-bikes being accessible these days it's not a concern anymore.
Also, a park could be painted between the upper and lower road all along, providing walking paths. Shrubs and not very tall trees could create hiding places for small wildlife and would increase land value. The retaining wall is too much for my taste, and it blocks wildlife movement.
I would love to see a New York/New Jersey theme build from you. Love you btw ❤
Reminds me of the hill in Duluth, MN. I would have to drive to the top of the hill in the winter on a main road and then slowly work my way down back to home
Love the retaining walls! It really makes the neighborhood feel like a place.
I was also looking forward to this episode, and now we can look forward to the road that will bypass the golf course and Shorewood and connect to the highway.
5:25 wait a min...that's a very efficient road layout right there
Since watching your videos, every time i see a well lit parking lot it makes me happy
I’ve seen the walls-and-fake-ground trick before on videos by the Akruas and the like, but frankly they’re on a level so far beyond me that I couldn’t really follow. Thanks for explaining this so well. It seems to me you could do additional tiers of housing that way too, especially if the homes are only on one side of the road.
Another idea for the big empty space between the upper and lower levels might be foot paths (possibly park life ones) crossing them diagonally (for maximum horizontal distance and thus minimum slope) and meeting in the middle to form an X. That way it would be possible to walk from one corner to the opposite, or to switchback up one of the vertical roads without having to walk straight up that steep slope.
I would love to see some more retaining walls! The neighbourhood feels a bit empty at the moment with those huge fields in between terrain levels
Loved the video and everything turned out beautifully. I know you have a large community to please but I do think the retaining walls add a nice touch of detailing to the neighborhoods. Hills are also a thing to navigate in higher land value subdivisions as well as in a rural area on the outskirts of most towns so please do this more often and not worry so much about the grade police!
Big fan of when we're asked to like the video no matter if we're pro or anti whats going on! Makes me laugh every time. Love the videos!
Great build as always! Love that retaining wall and it will really be fun to walls for the train tracks. This area is really something that one will wish to live in.
Still loving all your content 😁 I didn't get to catch your CC live stream, but watched the video after and it was nice in the format you set it with.
The retaining wall looks good, but I think the sloped terrain looks better, as you could just use some fences around the houses to help "protect" then lots.
Keep up the great work 👍😊
I love how this new neighborhood looks, btw I think you should call it university heights
Beacon Hill. The roads are one ways to mitigate the issue of them being steep. Even though some of the UP roads are so steep in parts that they are nearly undrivable in winter due to ice on the road.
I love pickleball! We played it in highschool gym class. So funny to see it coming into the limelight more now. I also just saw they have professional pickleball on TV!
Crazy times with Phil is my favorite Saturday activity
Phil says "tag" like a wisconsinite! 🤣 😘
The intro got me pumped, if feel like these are the trickiest experiences in the game. Well done Phil 🍻
I love this build! However, you might want to consider moving the observatory due to the light pollution from Van Buren. Especially now that you are building up the hillside underneath it.
Love the retaining walls, looks great. It's funny to me that you put houses on the slope. I live in Vancouver, and I can tell you, without a doubt, that here that new neighborhood would be all condos. 🙃
Been looking forward to another Clearwater episode since I missed out on the stream l. 'Capital View' sounds like a great name for the road along the higher section imo.
As a skateboarder those steep roads serve as almost mini attractions for skaters to hill bomb on. Now thats either a good thing or a bad thing depending how you look at it. I definitely am always looking at my city and going "Ooh that looks great to skate"
Longtime viewer, first time commenter. Loved the build, reminded me a bit of a neighborhood near where I live in Grand Rapids MI called Belknap Lookout, which is separated from the downtown by an arterial and a very steep hill. A couple things that neighborhood has which I think could improve this neighborhood in Van Buren: 1) some carefully targeted residential density, something like a 3 or 4-over-1, that would have great views but wouldn't overwhelm the surrounding homes, and 2) a special park space dedicated to the views of the downtown and capital, like the Lookout Park in Grand Rapids.
Hey CPP, great video as ever! I have a tip for you: in the Node Controller settings I believe, you can set the game to auto slope road crossings!
Phil this is so weird but like...i fucking love falling asleep to your voice. I love when I wake up in the middle of the night and i still hear your voice and it's like comforting and safe. Your voice hits me in that A1 steak sauce spot like it tingles me in the back of my jaw lol
Wow! I never knew how to use those retaining walls 🤩
And because it's a network, you could use the node controller on the network surfaces also and twist the ends! 🤯
I think the retaining wall neighborhood feels more modern. I don’t know that the retaining wall is totally necessary through the entire neighborhood. I feel like it would be more necessary with a narrower green space in between the streets. What you did here looks great!
Love pickleball. My partner and I have a couple friend that we play with in the summers. Would be nice for some modders to add pickleball courts to the game. Another beautiful build. Love the new neighborhood and I think the retaining wall was the right idea.
Yay, finally the city gained some shape and you went into the hills. I'm absolutely loving it and the retaining walls are a chef's kiss. For inspiration you could check Jeremy Thunder and Akruas, they do wonders with them.
I'd add another connection to the left side of the hill, as the diagonal collector could go through the tracks, and the district could become a bit wider. And definitely I'd want to see some higher levels of the hill utilized!
I wonder how you'll make this a masterpiece ! The top hill could be a great place for some really expansive towers !
I haven't watched any of your other streams, so I can't speak on improvements, but I did watch this last one, and it was one of the only streams I have ever been interested in watching. It looked great, and it did feel like a "video-like" experience. P.S. your videos are great!
36:30 out where I live in Western Washington every winter we have issues with landslides on the train tracks that make the commuter rail lines unusable sometimes for weeks, so I say yes on the quay walls In front of the railroad tracks.
The view of the capital from the hills is amazing!
I have an idea for this neighborhood. On a slope like that, there needs to be some sort of public park that would be natural place for the kids to go sledding in the winter, with a straight downhill slope that wouldn't terminate with them sledding into the path of traffic. That would be really neat.
Great video as always I did love thar cliff beside the Raulroad track and was sort of sad to see it go. Other than that little detail i totally dig every aspect of the look of this community! Dogs love hills. In thr winter my doggy will slide down hills on her belly in the snow 😀 great work sir!!
I like to use the Parallel Tool to put in retaining walls. You can use any of the wall assets, even without having water. So you can lay down a path even, then delete it later. Use Move It to make things perfect. Nice build.
I know these slopes may look crazy but I lived in West Virginia for years and these kind of slopes were just the norm. Same in Central and Western Pennsylvania. Really teaches you how to drive in inclement weather.
When you mentioned the inability to place fences on those retaining wall sections you should be able to use Intersection Marking Tool as those grasses and walls are both networks
That's a fabulous streetcar suburb build! 👏👏👏👍 I think it's your best one yet, aesthetically. 🏆
The retaining wall is such a great idea. I think to enhance the realism you could consider a version of erosion control on the hillside such as small trees and shrubs or on the steep slopes, netting.