(A) In approving a precise plan of design or site plan review, the Director, Design Review Commission or City Council, on appeal, must find in writing that the site plan, architecture and landscape design:
(1) Are consistent with the policies of the general plan, zoning ordinance, design guidelines, and other city ordinances and policies governing the quality and character of development.
(2) Are architecturally harmonious, consistent with the scale and impact of similarly sited properties in the same neighborhood and zoning classification, and carry out the intent of the city's design guidelines. Each building shall include full architectural character on all building elevations demonstrating a quality of craftsmanship and design quality consistent with the city's guidelines.
(3) Provide a degree of amenity characterized by generous landscaping of the open spaces and parking lots consistent with city design guidelines; provision of pedestrian connections; provision of landscape transition zones between parcels; and preservation of native, historic, and specimen trees and vegetation on the site.
(4) Provide proper transition between the subject parcels and adjoining properties, including proper streetscape, architectural scale, massing, proportion and harmony; landscape palette, sound and vibration control, buffering, privacy protections; public improvements, and sign controls necessary to improve the quality of the streetscape.
(5) Include, to the extent possible, passive solar design opportunities, new and sustainable technologies, water-efficient landscape techniques, elimination of nonconforming signs, and other building practices consistent with the provisions of state law and city design guidelines.
(6) Protect the character-defining features of historic streetscapes, building exteriors, and cultural landscapes consistent with Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
(7) In addition to the above, when considering a precise plan of design for a curb cut for vacant property, the following findings must also be made:
(a) That access to the vacant property will not create an attractive nuisance;
(b) That access to the vacant property will not create a standalone parking lot or storage yard;
(c) That access to the vacant property is consistent with future development plans of the vacant property; and
(d) That access to the property will not create an unsafe situation for individuals or surrounding properties.
(B) The Design Review Commission shall not consider the internal space arrangements and amenities of a structure except to the extent required for compliance with applicable building codes, zoning density requirements, zoning code requirements, design development standards, evaluation criteria and the purpose of this subchapter.
('65 Code, § 9-3.2506) (Ord. 449-C.S., passed 6-6-95; Am. Ord. 512-C.S., passed 3-20-01; Am. Ord. 552-C.S., passed 11-21-06; Am. Ord. 629-C.S., passed 10-4-16)