(A) Letters of compliance; building permit.
(1) The Chief Building Inspector for Metro Louisville shall be designated as the local enforcement agent for the Kentucky Building Code, with the exception that prior to the issuance of any building permit from Metro Louisville, the city shall be given the opportunity to review the permit application and plans to determine if the project (and its site) is in compliance with all city ordinances.
(2) If the property is in compliance, a letter of compliance shall be issued to the applicant by the city and the applicant shall present that letter of noncompliance to Metro Louisville, as part of the permit process. If the property is not in compliance with city ordinance, the city shall state in writing those items of compliance and provided to Metro Louisville and the applicant.
(3) The City Mayor, after consideration of the application materials and sufficient investigation, including consultation and opinion of engineer, architect of other consultant, as may be appropriate to the application, to make a determination, based on the criteria herein, on whether to grant or deny the letter of compliance. The decision shall be in writing and within 60 days of the filing of a complete application and the decision shall set forth findings supporting the approval or denial. Failure of the applicant to supply the needed information (as determined by the city), or allow the city inspection tolls the 60-day time for the city decision. The city may condition its decision subject to such terms, provision and conditions, as they may deem reasonably necessary to secure the general purposes of this section.
(4) The applicant shall have a right to appeal the decision the City Commission, which appeal must be in writing and must be received within 30 days of the denial. The appeal will be docketed for review and decision at the next regularly scheduled City Commission meeting, provided it is received at the city office within seven days prior to the meeting. If not so timely received, it shall be docketed for the following regular meeting. The applicant will be allowed a reasonable time to present any relevant evidence that supports applicant's appeal. The decision of the City Commission on the appeal must be in writing, with findings supporting the approval or denial.
(B) Design standards: city wide. The following design standards shall be used to determine if the building permit is in compliance with city ordinances:
(1) All construction in all zoning districts (including accessory structures) shall have building architecture and exterior finishes, which are in keeping with the general character of the existing architecture in the city, in terms of style, type of materials, design and appearance.
(2) Roof-lines, pitches and material must be in keeping to the character of the neighborhood, in terms of style, type of material and design.
(3) In all non-residential zoned areas, the landscaping and buffering of any new construction from single-family residential areas is required, to minimize the impact of noise, light, unwanted pedestrian access, trash and other health and safety impacts.
(4) All fences and walls must not be installed in such a way as to obstruct drainage. All fence and wall materials must match the general style and materials must be in keeping with the general character of the neighborhood, in terms of style, type of material and design.
(5) Residential drives or driveways shall be paved with concrete or asphalt and there shall be only one drive per single-family residential lot.
(6) Commercial parking areas shall be designed to minimize light and noise impact on community. When possible, commercial parking and access shall be shared to minimize curb-cuts.
(7) Any accessory structure or garages shall match the general style and materials of the primary structures on the lost and must be in keeping with the general character of the neighborhood, in terms of style, type of material and design. No accessory structure or garage may be higher than the top roof-line of the primary structure on the lot.
(8) Any type of signage of any type in any non single-family residential areas of the city must be in compliance with the Metro Louisville Land Development Code; and in addition, the signage must be in keeping with the general character of the neighborhood, in terms of style, type of material and design.
(9) Any exterior of any property, must not be in a dilapidated condition at the time of application for a building permit. Dilapidated condition hereby means; weeds and grass (i.e. non-ornamental or crop material) or grass higher than 12 inches in height; trees, bushes, or any other item that obstruct the use of sidewalks or streets; stacks of limbs, debris, leaves and yard waste; accumulations of rubbish; inoperative vehicles, boats and trailers; unsanitary conditions such as stagnant water.
(C) Design standards: Middletown Historic District. The city hereby finds that the Designated Historic District of the city, is of unique significance and importance to the city. In order to protect the Middletown Historic District and encourage smart growth, with the intent to benefit the community by promoting quality development of the city center, the city hereby enacts the following additional design guidelines:
(1) Respect and enhance the existing mix of historic design styles and encourage both restoration and adaptive re-use to maintain the character of the Middletown Historic District.
(2) Large featureless buildings should be discouraged. Buildings should face the street.
(3) Building color scheme of balanced, complementary colors should be emphasized where appropriate.
(4) Parking lots should be screened by a landscape buffer or other natural features from view along the scenic corridors.
(5) All new buildings should have predominant facades facing the corridor.
(6) Provide a sense of enclosure along the building front to form street walls where appropriate through design elements including, but not limited to, street trees, site features such as lampposts and benches. Parking areas should be located in the rear.
(7) Buildings and sites should be designed to emphasize pedestrian scale architecture and landscaping, while avoiding large expanses of paved areas, large featureless buildings, and monotonous or franchise-style architecture.
(8) Circulation systems should be designed to efficiently facilitate traffic flow yet discourage speeds and volumes that impede pedestrian activity and safety such as a grid pattern with short block lengths.
(9) Common or shared access points are encouraged. To the maximum extent feasible, common or shared delivery and service access should be provided between adjacent parcels or buildings and to the rear of buildings. Future access easements may be required.
(10) A coordinated pedestrian system should be provided throughout the mix-use village centers, including connections between uses on the site and between the site and adjacent properties and rights-of-way.
(11) 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 sidewalks along perimeter streets, or other community amenities or gathering spaces.
(12) The visual impact of parking should be minimized through the use of interior landscaped islands and through dividing parking spaces into groupings. The edge of parking lots should be screened through landscaping or other methods, such as decorative fences.
(13) The design of streets, pedestrian ways, landscaping, lighting, signage, lighting and street furniture should be coordinated and integrated throughout the site.
(14) Vehicular streets and driveways should be designed to be compatible with pedestrian ways to encourage a pedestrian-friendly environment. The width of streets should be sensitive to pedestrian scale and building height.
(15) Service areas and mechanical equipment should be screened from public view.
(16) All sides of a building open to view by the public should display a similar level of architecture quality and should be subdivided and proportioned using features such as arcades, awnings, entrances, windows or other such features.
(17) Building facades should have highly visible customer-service entrances that feature arcades, arches, canopies, display window, distinctive roof forms, landscaped features or overhangs. Primary entrances should face streets on which they are located.
(18) Buildings should have well-defined rooflines with attention to architecture detail.
(19) All lighting must conform at a minimum to the Land Development Code, but should strive to be of a village-level of intensity.
(20) Design unique city signs that identify the entries to city.
(21) Whenever possible, signage should be integrated with building facade or supporting structures.
(22) Monument signs are preferred over post-mounted signs to avoid a temporary and fragile appearance.
(23) Landscaping should be planted around the base of free-standing signs.
(24) For multi-tenant buildings, all signage on the facade should be consistent in color, size and elevation.
(25) Perimeter landscaping that incorporate buffer-like improvements, such as berms and dense plantings are encouraged.
(26) Parking lots that contain sufficient landscaping to visually soften views of buildings and parked automobiles are encouraged.
(27) Open-space areas that incorporate dense or mature vegetation are encouraged.
(28) Preserve existing trees and understory rather than new plantings and mounding as the preferred means of buffering.
(29) Provide a complementary mix of deciduous and evergreen material, clustering varieties of species and sizes (canopies interspersed with understories, bushes and ground cover), and emphasize hardy native species.
(30) Encourage use of green-space and limit impervious surface through innovative materials such as pervious asphalt and concrete and other “green” type of parking lot materials.
(31) Promote water quality through innovative use of “green” technology, such as diverting rainwater through rain gardens (where possible), filtering drainage through plant material prior to entering the drainage systems.
(D) Effective date. This section shall take effect upon its passage and approval as required by law.
(Ord. passed - -2010) Penalty, see § 150.99