(A) Goals. The Prairie Fire Design Overlay District provides guidelines and standards intended to promote and enhance the identity of the area and create a sense of place. The Planning and Zoning Commission generated these goals in the Spring of 2006. Specifically, the goals for overlay district are:
(1) To promote storefront, shopping center or industrial building design that enhances the physical appearance of the corridor and establishes an identity distinguishing it from development found elsewhere on Interstate 80 and in the state;
(2) To promote the application of these design guidelines while still allowing companies to maintain their own identity and ability to be easily recognized by the general public; and
(3) To promote individual site planning to ensure that the internal and external vehicular and pedestrian circulation pattern in the district is safe and easy to navigate.
(B) Design principles. The Prairie Fire Design Overlay District is based upon the following set of principles.
(1) Consistency. The city hopes that development in the district will be diverse and feature a mixture of development types such as shopping centers, hotels, restaurants, recreational facilities and museums. Design of all these facilities is guided by the individual business use and site constraints. Within that context, development within the district should maintain a consistency and compatibility between the different uses through the selection of exterior surface materials, landscape materials and sign programs.
(2) Safety. Public safety is critical to the success of commercially zoned districts. Public safety not only refers to safety from criminal activity, but also safety for automobile and pedestrian traffic. This can be addressed through site planning considerations such as lighting, landscaping, internal sidewalks and bike/walking trails.
(3) Simplicity. Simplicity refers to the reduction of visual clutter and the implementation of an architectural/sign/site design that fits into the existing and future development of the whole district.
(4) Organically. Organically refers to the style of development the city hopes to see occur within the district. The prairie is the source of inspiration for the district, and the city wants building and landscape designs to reflect that natural environment. Highly manicured plantings and shrubs, as shown in Image 2, would not likely fit into this natural development style. In addition to reflecting this natural environment, landscaping, erosion controls and layouts should also work to protect and restore the prairie.
(2011 Code, § 34.04060.3)