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Planning board backs changes to downtown design guidelines to reduce prescriptiveness, 5–0
Summary
The planning board voted unanimously to recommend amendments to downtown interim design guidelines that make architectural bay requirements more flexible while preserving goals to avoid blank walls and promote pedestrian‑level articulation.
The Planning & Zoning Board unanimously recommended approval Jan. 16 of amendments to the downtown Interim Design Guidelines (IDG) intended to give architects more flexibility in breaking up long building facades.
Development Services Director Brandon Shadd said the IDG amendment would retain the IDG’s purpose—avoiding blank street walls and increasing articulation—while removing prescriptive width limits for architectural bays so designers could use a broader set of elements to achieve the same pedestrian‑level variety. Shadd said the change seeks to allow different architectural solutions while keeping the same development rights under the IDG.
Architect and neighborhood stakeholder Derek Vanderploegen urged adding a phrase such as “or similar architectural elements” so the code would permit alternatives that achieve the intended streetscape composition without forcing a “strip of small storefronts” look. Board members and staff agreed to meet with Vanderploegen to refine the language before the item goes to city council.
The board voted 5–0 to recommend the amendment. Staff said the revised language will be refined with input and included in the council packet.
