(a) Commercial, retail, office, and mixed-use buildings shall be oriented on the property to emphasize a street wall and provide enhanced pedestrian access and circulation to the site. The building façade shall occupy a minimum of fifty percent (50%) of the total frontage length between the minimum and maximum setbacks. Buildings shall be oriented so that at least one main entrance faces the public street. In the case of a corner lot that is located on a public street, the principal entrance shall face a public street. No building shall have a façade fronting on a public street in excess of 200 feet in width, unless pedestrian entranceways or façade material shifts are provided at least every 200 feet of frontage.
(b) Freestanding townhouses, apartments, and/or condominiums shall be oriented to public or private street frontage, green space or courtyards.
(c) Buildings shall utilize a combination of façade differentiation, including display windows, balconies, arcades, and awnings at the base of the building. Windows will primarily use transparent glass on the first floor of a commercial building. Mechanical equipment on the roof of a building shall be screened from view from public right-of ways at the primary façade. All trash, service areas, and loading bays shall be screened. Building materials may consist of primarily (or a combination of) brick, stone, stucco (smooth or sand finish), EIFS, glass, a pre-cast masonry, cast stone, pre-cast concrete, metal, split-faced block, wood siding or paneling, or fiber cement board panels and siding.
(d) The development pattern for the U-8 District will make appropriate connections with the existing streets adjacent to the U-8 District. Streets and sidewalks will be connected into the U-8 District in an attractive manner to reinforce its integration into the community fabric.
Access points shall be properly managed to address safe and efficient traffic flow.
(e) Pedestrian crosswalks or sidewalks shall be at least five (5) feet in width providing connections to the entrance of the building shall be provided in parking lots that contain twenty-five (25) or more parking spaces.
(f) Building setbacks and separations shall be established on the approved Master Development Plan. In establishing said separations the Planning Commission shall consider the spacing necessary for adequate visual and acoustical privacy, adequate light and air, fire and emergency access, building configurations, energy-efficient siting, and the relationships of building sites to circulation patterns. In no instance shall the established setbacks and/or separations be less than the following:
(1) The minimum building setback from Northfield Road shall be twenty-five (25) feet.
(2) Mixed-use and non-residential buildings may be located on the right-of-way line of internal public streets and the easement line of internal private streets and drives. Single family attached and multi-family buildings shall be setback a minimum of twenty (20) feet from internal streets.
(3) The minimum side yard separation between buildings shall be zero (0) feet for non-residential and mixed-use buildings, ten (10) feet for residential buildings, and twenty (20) feet between non-residential and mixed-use buildings and residential buildings.
(4) The minimum building setback from any boundary line of the Hub District shall be twenty (20) feet.
(g) Minimum dwelling sizes shall be as follows:
(1) Single family attached dwellings shall have a minimum floor area of 1,200 square feet.
(2) Multi-family dwellings shall have a minimum floor area of 900 square feet.
(h) Each single-family attached dwelling shall have a minimum of twenty percent (20%) masonry veneer on the front façade and garage doors shall be placed a minimum of four (4) feet back from the front façade of the main body of the house or from the front edge of a porch.
(j) Parking lots and pedestrian ways shall be illuminated to provide for public safety. Sources of light for illumination of buildings and grounds shall be shielded with full cut-off fixtures and light spillage at the property boundaries of the District shall not be greater than 0.1 foot candles. All lighting shall be installed and maintained in conformance with a site lighting plan approved by the Planning Commission.
(k) Underground utilities, including data and communication and electrical systems are required within the limits of the U-8 District except that appurtenances to these systems may be located above ground as needed so long as such items are effectively screened.
(l) Areas between commercial buildings shall include a pedestrian plaza, pathway, or landscaping. Parking lots shall be buffered from all public street frontages with building, wall, fence, landscaping, or mound. Plant material of low shrubs, bushes, and flowers shall be placed intermittently against building foundation walls and/or fences to enhance the pedestrian experience. One or more property owners association, community association, condominium association or similar legal entity shall be created so that such association is responsible for the maintenance and control of common areas.
(Ord. 2020-124. Passed 11-4-20.)