(A) Purpose. The purpose of this article is to address the quality and sustainable design of buildings and building sites in order to:
(1) Character. Preserve and enhance a community character that conveys a positive, lasting impression on both residents and visitors;
(2) Functionality. Provide buildings that are functional, safe, and attractive;
(3) Public realm. Establish the physical and functional relationships between buildings and the public realm; and
(4) Form. Prescribe the rules related to building massing, form, and design.
(B) Applicability. The standards of this article apply to the following development activities:
(1) New development. New residential, nonresidential, or mixed-use development or change in use from residential to nonresidential or mixed-use; or
(2) Increase in intensity. Increase in apartment units, manufactured home pads, gross floor area, or impervious surface by 25% or more, cumulatively over a five-year period.
(C) Timing of compliance. A Certificate of Occupancy will not be issued until all site improvements required in this article are constructed in conformance with the approved permit or plan required in § 156.J.002, Common Review Provisions.
(D) Design practices. The principles below should be considered in all design practices in addition to specific standards found in § 156.D.002, General Requirements:
(1) Clustering. Where applicable in the RL zoning district, housing should be clustered to preserve valuable environmental resources and provide usable recreational open space.
(2) Open space. The open space system is as carefully designed as the housing area so as to offer usable permitted open space types visible from roadways and spatially defined by abutting building facades and/or landscape elements.
(3) Multimodal transportation. Vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle transportation is facilitated through a connected system of roads, sidewalks, and/or trails so as to provide many choices with regard to mode and route.
(4) Traffic calming. Traffic calming techniques may be used to reduce vehicle speed and increase pedestrian and bicycle safety.
(5) Facade direction. Principal buildings address the street, presenting front facades on the publicly visible side of the building. The front facade of each principal building shall face a dedicated public street or the limits of a private parking unit and no building shall have the rear facade facing a dedicated public street.
(6) Parking design. The visual impact of vehicular off-street parking and garages on public streetscape views is minimized through innovative site planning and building design including parking areas located to the rear of buildings, using architectural design elements such as massing, form, materials, and fenestration to make garages visually compatible with inhabited buildings, and parking areas screened with landscape elements.
(7) Support uses. Neighborhood support uses, such as neighborhood commercial areas, daycare facilities, community centers, places of public assembly, and schools are designed so as to be visually compatible with the residential character of the neighborhood and accessible by all transportation modes.
(Ord. 15039, passed 4-11-2022)