My mental map has Chico ending precisely at Eaton Road. I like cities to have well-defined boundaries. I don't want them to ooze into the countryside.
Eaton Road marked the approximate northern boundary of Rancho Arroyo del Chico. If that was good enough for John Bidwell, it's good enough for me.
Modern-day Chico, alas, has a mind of its own. Or maybe it would even be more accurate to call it mindless. Its northern boundaries are especially sloppy.
In the northwest corner, housing developments have jumped Eaton and are creeping toward Mud Creek. Along Highway 99, businesses of every size and description crowd out the countryside for a good mile or two north of Eaton.
The biggest breach of the boundary is the Chico Municipal Airport and the ring of businesses that surrounds it. This isn't even an extension of the sprawl that spills past Eaton. It's a separate entity. Drive north on Cohasset Road and you go through a patch of open space before you get there. But when you arrive, if you look at it closely, you see that it's a world unto itself.
It's a world where lots of people work and nobody lives, although there are other things besides businesses there. I was surprised to come across a Little League field. Not far from it is a place called Sky Creek Dharma Center, where beliefs and practices, rather than goods and services, are the focus. There is an aviation museum out near the airport, which I still haven't visited.
It's a land of immense buildings, some of them vacant, and tiny sheds and Quonset huts, most of them containing thriving enterprises.
It's a place that has no sense of place in the traditional or new urbanism sense. Its scale makes Chico's big-boxland look like a village. It has long blocks and wide streets, but you do see people out on the sidewalks, power-walking and jogging. It's geared to cars, but the roads are pretty much empty. Except during commute time, all the cars are in parking lots.
It's a realm full of businesses I've heard of, but didn't realize they were at the airport until I went out there. Six Degrees is one example. Another is Fifth Sun.
There are probably more car repair and parts places out at the airport than in the rest of Chico combined. But it's also the home of some cutting-edge businesses. Chico Technology Center is the home of Travidia, Inc., an online marketing company, (the final photo in this post) and PathoLase, a medical laser technology company.
Mooney Farms, which makes sun-dried tomato products, is also out there. It has just completed a handsome addition to its facility, as the photo the leads off this post shows.
When you drive through this other world and really look around, you realize Chico's economy is more diverse than you've imagined it to be. The city is based on other things besides agriculture, Chico State University and health care, government and retail services.
The vacant buildings are evidence that this is a land of great expectations, but the number and variety of businesses that fill most of the buildings show that it's possible for employers to find success in an area outsiders may dismiss as a backwoods part of Northern California.
I suspect that most Chicoans are unaware of what's out at the airport. We don't go there much. When we decide to fly, we usually drive to the Sacramento International Airport. Chico isn't yet part of the friendly skies network.
The part of me that is a student of urban design principles looks upon this area as a perfect example of leapfrog development. But the economic realist sees it as a ray of hope for Chico's most important quality of life issue -- good-paying jobs.
About Me: Steve Brown is a copy editor at the Enterprise-Record. He began his blog,
"But This is Chico, too," in 2006. His column, "But This is Chico," ran in
the E-R from 2001 to 2008. He's a flaneur, which is a sentient ambler
through urban space. He sometimes writes about his adventures as a flaneur
in his blog. He hopes to eventually walk every block in Chico.
For most of us old timers, the airport has always been good for one thing in particular....teaching your teenager how to drive. Wide roads, no traffic, it's perfect!
Regarding the last paragraph, the same principal applies to most all business parks (the airport type being one). Usually they are associated with a transportation hub or corridor to make it attractive to businesses. By virtue of them being road or air-traffic-based, and intentionally seperate from most other types of uses they are usually not particularly pedestrian accessible and tend to be sub-urban. I dont really care for them as a tool to create jobs, but I understand certain types of businesses find them attractive. Certainly good-paying--I would argue better paying--and more sustainable jobs can be had by incentivising business in other ways.
We relocated our business, Greenfeet, out to the airport just over 2 years ago. The rent is affordable, the space is functional and practical for a business such as ours that sends and receives shipments all day (the semi drivers love it - the wider roads and driveways are much safer than trying to maneuver cars, pedestrians and cyclists on City streets).
And the airport area is easily accessed by the bike path - several of my staff can attest to that.
What I would like to see is a smarter development out at the airport - building that makes sense such as more natural light, solar panels, wind power (it's almost always windy at the airport), etc.
And, you can't help but love the cool planes such as the U2 that swoop in and out.