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Providence staff advance design standards, zoning text changes to limit 'boxy' multi‑family buildings
Summary
City planning staff presented a package of design standards and zoning text amendments to curb recent three‑story 'box' prototypes, including a 5‑foot maximum porch elevation, limits on finished pressure‑treated wood, vinyl siding appearance rules, a 3.5‑inch minimum window trim, and a proposal for staff‑level design review. The committee continued the public hearing to next week.
At a Providence City Council committee meeting Wednesday, city planning and zoning staff presented a multi‑part package of design standards and zoning code amendments intended to raise exterior design quality for small‑scale residential buildings, apartments and mixed‑use developments.
Jason Martin, the city’s preservation planner, said changes target a relatively new prototype of 2‑ and 3‑family buildings that “have very stark appearance[s]” and lack traditional details. He described the proposed rules for small‑scale residential projects: a maximum porch elevation of 5 feet above grade, requirements to enclose or screen large open spaces beneath porches, and a prohibition on using untreated pressure‑treated pine as a finished exterior material. “Putting corner boards on a building…is not gonna add an exorbitant amount of…
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