The design criteria in this section are intended to ensure that each PD results in unique places and walkable districts, with buildings of extraordinary quality and design, properly integrated into its surroundings and is compatible with the neighborhood character. While flexibility in design is encouraged, some principles may not apply in all circumstances. The following design criteria should be incorporated in the preliminary and final site development plans.
(a) Site Design:
(1) Buildings and sites shall accommodate a mix of uses and dwelling types as permitted by these regulations.
(2) Buildings shall be designed to respect the street context, form street walls where appropriate, and maintain or create view corridors.
(3) Buildings and sites shall be designed to emphasize pedestrian scale, human scale architecture and landscaping, while avoiding large expanses of paved areas, large featureless buildings, and monotonous or franchise-style architecture.
(4) Planned Mixed-Use Developments and any Planned Infill Development that includes retail uses shall be pedestrian oriented with first floor retail storefronts, curbside parking, pedestrian plazas, and should include other features such as decorative street furniture, landscaped streets and walks, covered walkways, outdoor seating, bicycle facilities such as paths and parking, decorative pavement to indicate pedestrian walkway and crosswalks, traffic calming measures, and signage that is compatible with the building architecture and pedestrian scale.
(5) Buildings shall generally be oriented toward the street or outdoor civic gathering space with varying setbacks to provide visual interest and varying shadow patterns.
(6) Buildings shall be designed and arranged to define the public and non-public space with open views and surveillance for public areas and privacy for non-public areas.
(7) Utility services such as gas, water, sewers, electric, cable and telephone, shall be installed underground and in compliance with relevant City ordinances and all other applicable regulations and requirements.
(b) Building Design. Building aesthetics establish a base criteria related to the appearance of specific structures. These regulations strike a balance between creativity and innovation on one hand, while avoiding obtrusive, incompatible structures on the other. These design standards are applicable to both residential and non-residential developments within the PD, as appropriate, unless specified otherwise.
(1) Where permitted, high activity uses such as retail are encouraged on the first floor, with uses such as offices, and residential encouraged on the second floor or higher.
(2) All sides of a building shall display a similar level of architectural quality, and subdivided using features such as windows, entrances, arcades, awnings, roof pitch/design, eaves, overhanging rakes, and parapets or other such features. The Planning Commission may waive this requirement for a building façade that the Commission determines is not visible by the general public.
(3) Monotony of design in single or multiple building projects should be avoided by varying detail, form, and siting to the maximum extent practicable to provide visual interest.
(4) Large, dominant building masses shall be avoided. Where large structures are proposed with façades longer than 100 feet in length, the mass shall be broken up using projecting and recessed elements, and similar design techniques along at least 20 % of the length of the façade. Change in mass should be related to entrances, the integral structure, a variety of different wall planes, and/or the organization of interior spaces and activities, and not merely for cosmetic effect.
(5) Building design features, such as windows, shutters, vents, doors, entrances, awnings, and canopies, shall be designed to be in proportion to one another.
(6) Each building façade that faces a public right-of-way, or public parking area shall incorporate design elements at least every 30 horizontal feet, such as changes in color or texture and material modules; projections, recesses, and reveals; arcades or pergolas providing pedestrian interest; or equivalent elements that subdivide the wall into human scale proportions. Exemptions include:
A. Two walls that face one another, are separated by no more than 30 feet, and the space between the two walls is used for servicing the buildings, or
B. The wall faces an area devoted solely to loading and delivery and the wall is screened from all public rights-of-ways, parking areas, and abutting residential areas as approved in the preliminary site development plan.
(7) Window to wall ratios shall be appropriate to the type and use of building constructed. For example, first floor retail façades facing streets or pedestrian ways should incorporate large amounts of clear windows that permit views into the interior of the building and/or product display areas.
(8) Building façades shall have highly visible customer service entrances that feature canopies, overhangs, arcades, distinctive roof forms, arches, display windows, or landscaped features. Primary entrances should face, and be visible from, the street on which they are located and should be directly accessible and visible from the sidewalk.
(9) Buildings shall have well defined rooflines with attention to architectural detail. Consideration should be given to the prevailing pattern of roofs in the area surrounding and within the district. The roof type and material shall be architecturally compatible with façade elements and the rest of the building.
(c) Residential Design:
(1) Residential buildings shall be arranged in various groups, or clusters with open spaces related to the buildings to create a harmonious and coordinated architectural design for the entire development area, provided that the buildings are not excessively similar as set forth in Section 1313.04(b) of the Codified Ordinances.
(2) There shall be a clear, well-defined sense of entry from the street to each building.
A. For detached single-family units and attached single-family units, a front entry stoop is preferred. Appropriate alternative designs will be considered to accommodate accessibility/visitability.
B. For mid-rise multi-family buildings, the building shall include a distinctive entry, such as an awning, portico, or similar entry feature.
C. Landscaping between the edge of the roadway and the front of the building shall be provided in accordance with Section 1162.081.
(3) Shutters or trim shall be provided with all windows on any elevation. If shutters are used, shutter sizes must be proportionately correct. They should each be half the width of the window opening such that the entire window is covered when they are closed. If shutters are not utilized, appropriately sized trim or casing shall be incorporated.
(4) Buildings shall have well-defined rooflines with attention to architectural detail. Sloping roofs should have one or more of the following architectural features: gables, hips, horizontal or vertical breaks, or other similar techniques that are integrated into the building architecture. Eaves are required on street facing façades.
(5) Where garages are located in front of, even with, or to the side of a principal dwelling, the width of garage doors on the house elevation facing the street shall not exceed 40 percent of the total width of the house and garage together.
(d) Exterior Building Materials:
(1) High quality exterior building materials, such as brick, wood, stacked stone, other native stone, and tinted/textured concrete masonry units, shall be the dominant types of building materials used. Unless otherwise specified, all permitted building materials shall be manufactured and built to industry standards and have a minimum 30-year life expectancy.
(2) Attached single-family buildings shall comply with the following requirements:
A. Each elevation that faces a street or is visible from the street and is part of the front wall of the building (or side wall facing a side street on corner lots) shall consist of 30 percent masonry or greater, excluding windows and trim. Masonry includes standard size brick, cultured stone, and architectural pre-cast concrete. The balance of the street-facing elevations may be constructed of wood siding, fiber cement siding, stucco, wood shingle or other neutral materials.
B. Side and rear elevations shall have a two (2) foot return of masonry where they abut a masonry wall. The remainder should be faced with brick, stucco, fiber cement board, wood shingles or wood siding. The Planning Commission may approve alternative material where appropriate.
C. Side and rear elevations that are visible from the street shall be faced with brick, stucco, fiber cement board, wood shingles or wood siding.
D. Roofs shall be made of architectural grade fiberglass shingles or natural materials such as slate or shake. Metal roofs may be used, if determined to be appropriate by the Planning Commission.
(3) Mid-Rise Multi-Family buildings should comply with the following requirements:
A. Each elevation that faces a street or is visible from the street and is part of the front wall of the building (or side wall facing a side street on corner lots) shall consist of a minimum of 80 % masonry for the first floor, excluding doors and windows. Masonry includes standard size brick, cultured stone, and architectural pre-cast concrete. The balance of the street-facing elevation should consist of 30 % masonry or greater, excluding windows and trim, plus a combination of wood siding, fiber cement siding, stucco, wood shingle, glass, metal or other high quality materials approved by the Planning Commission. A standard-size concrete product which simulates common size brick in terms of color, texture, size, and grout may be used if it is approved by the Planning Commission.
B. Rear and side elevations shall have a two (2) foot return of masonry where they abut a masonry wall. The remainder should be faced with brick, stucco, fiber cement board, wood shingles or wood siding.
C. Side and rear elevations that are visible from the street shall be faced with brick, stucco, fiber cement board, wood shingles or wood siding.
D. Roofs shall be made of architectural grade fiberglass shingles or natural materials such as slate or shake. Metal roofs may be used, if determined appropriate by the Planning Commission. Flat roofs may be asphalt or rubber.
(4) For contemporary architecture, the Planning Commission may approve glass, metal or other similar materials.
(5) Prohibited materials include: vinyl lap siding on front or street-facing façades, aluminum lap siding, dryvit-type products on the lowest eight (8) feet of any façade, concrete block, oversized brick, utility brick, split-faced block, all brick units larger than common brick units.
(6) Façade colors shall be earth tones. Building trim may feature brighter colors, but the high intensity colors or fluorescent colors shall not be used.
(7) Variations in color schemes are required in order to articulate entryways and public amenities in order to give greater recognition to these features.
(e) Parking Design and Layout:
(1) Retail Mixed-Use Development is encouraged to reduce off-street surface parking in favor of on-street parking, structured parking located away from the street front, and shared parking arrangements.
(2) Parking for residential uses:
A. The required parking for residential uses shall be enclosed parking which is either attached to the dwelling or has direct indoor/enclosed access from the parking garage to the dwelling unit.
B. Private garages and their entries shall be located so that cars parked in the driveway do not extend over the sidewalk.
C. Guest parking spaces shall be reasonably distributed throughout the development to provide the maximum convenience to each dwelling unit.
(3) The edges of parking lots shall be screened through landscaping or other methods such as decorative fences.
(4) The visual impact of off-street parking lots shall be minimized using interior landscaped islands, pedestrian walkways, and through dividing parking spaces into groupings.
(5) Semi-pervious paving materials, such as permeable pavers, porous asphalt, or porous concrete, are encouraged so as to permit natural percolation of water. Such materials shall be installed and maintained in accordance with industry and manufacturer standards and the following:
A. The manufacturer's specifications are applicable to the subject property's particular soil type and slope (gradient) so that vehicles are supported without rutting and water percolation is achieved.
B. Semi-pervious parking areas must allow storm water to percolate into the ground at a rate sufficient to accommodate the five-year, 24-hour storm event, or as may otherwise be required by the City Engineer.
C. For non-residential uses, if only a portion of the parking area is designated for semi-pervious materials, the area designated for semi-pervious parking shall be located at the perimeter of the parking lot, and if possible, remote or furthest removed from the principal building.
(6) Parking structures shall be designed to be compatible with the adjacent buildings and district architecture and shall provide clearly marked pedestrian connections to the sidewalk.
A. Structured parking associated with mid-rise multi-family dwellings shall be integrated within the mid-rise multi-family building and located in the rear of the first three floors of the building and/or fully in underground floors.
B. Entrance and exit lanes into the garage space shall be located to the side or rear of the building to reduce visibility from the street.
(f) Landscaping and Screening:
(1) The pattern of landscaping shall be coordinated in design and type of materials, fencing and mounding used. Landscaping may vary in density, spacing and other treatments to reflect variations of topography, existing landscape or land uses.
(2) Privacy for proposed residential buildings shall be maintained through the use of landscaping, screening and buffering.
(3) Landscape buffers shall be provided with adequate landscaping between the proposed development and adjacent areas.
(4) Alternative design approaches to meet the intent of these landscape criteria and the requirements set forth in Chapter 1162, Landscaping, Screening and Buffering, may be incorporated, as approved by the Planning Commission.
(5) Stormwater retention basins should be designed to look like a natural feature.
(g) Vehicular Circulation and Access:
(1) Circulation systems shall be designed to efficiently facilitate traffic flow yet designed to discourage speeds and volumes that impede pedestrian activity and safety.
(2) Street designs are encouraged to incorporate traffic calming devices and techniques.
(3) To the maximum extent feasible, common or shared service and delivery access shall be provided between adjacent parcels or buildings and provided to the rear of buildings.
(h) Pedestrian Access and Circulation:
(1) A coordinated pedestrian system shall be provided throughout the development, including connections between uses on the site, and between the site and adjacent properties and rights-of-way.
(2) The site should be connected to adjacent properties and pedestrian facilities to the maximum extent feasible.
(3) Continuous sidewalks or other pedestrian facilities should be provided between the primary entrances to buildings, all parking areas that serve the buildings, pedestrian facilities on adjacent properties that extend to the boundaries shared with the development, any public sidewalk along perimeter streets, or other community amenities or gathering spaces.
(4) Pedestrian-scale lighting fixtures shall be provided along all sidewalks and walkways to provide ample lighting during nighttime hours.
(5) Decorative sidewalk materials, such as brick pavers, should be provided at key intersections or streets.
(6) Street furniture or other amenities are encouraged, such as plazas, benches, and decorative pedestrian light fixtures.
(Ord. 19-O-055. Passed 7-2-19.)