How about a hardware store, garden shop, day care center, café, dog park, hair salon, yogurt shop or art supply business? These were some ideas vocalized during the community-visioning event Saturday where more than 50 people gathered at Grange Hall to share thoughts about potential uses for a vacant lot at 2nd Avenue and Stockton Boulevard in Oak Park.  A McDonald’s with a 24-hour drive-through is currently proposed for the one-acre site, which faces commercial and medical buildings on Stockton and a residential neighborhood on 2nd Avenue.  “The goal of this meeting is to hear neighborhood concerns about the proposed McDonald’s and develop a new vision about what could go on that proper

A plan to build condos on some of Midtown's alleys may push ahead this week with the sale of a back lot on L Street. Homeowner Deanna Marquart is close to an agreement to sell 60 feet of her lot to Jeremy Drucker and other developers of an alley housing model called Stitch, the parties announced Monday. Selling the land for $100,000 will allow her to pay off the mortgage on her house at 2216 L St. Marquart, vice president of the Urban Design Alliance, said she also supports the concept. "I think this is the kind of development Sacramento needs," Marquart said. "Sacramento has to become denser in its residential development, and this is really a very desirable way to accomplish that." C

The two Midtown alleys stand largely quiet and deserted, except for the occasional rumbling delivery truck and dumpsters crouched behind buildings. The alleys have a hidden, tranquil feel in contrast to busy streets they run between. A third alley holding the entrance to Old Soul coffee house gets more foot traffic and cars heading surreptitiously to and from a state parking garage. So many cars, in fact, that they rob the alley of that serene environment. One group has another vision for what these alleys could become. They see al fresco dining in an upscale restaurant row reminiscent of San Francisco's Belden Street. They see a small, affordable, alley-front condo building that doesn'

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS - CENTRAL VALLEY (AIACV) presents - 4th WEDNESDAY DESIGN DIALOGUE Join your neighbors, colleagues and friends for the 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue series returning monthly in 2009.Each even numbered month this year, the AIACV will present an Architecture related topic while each odd numbered month, UDA-Sacramento will be presenting a Planning related topic. April’s AIACV Design Dialogue will focus on CATALYST DEVELOPMENTS with a panel presentation by: Ron Vrilakas, Principal, Vrilakas Architects Michael Malinowski, Principal, Applied Architecture Inc. Desmond Parrington, Infill Coordinator, City of Sacramento Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Time: 6:00-