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City outlines substantial update to design guidelines, including formal open-space clarifications and new material rules
Summary
Staff and consultant Pape Dawson presented a substantial update to the citys 2017 design guidelines, introducing a three-category approach to formal open space, an enhanced-landscape alternative, clarified industrial/townhome materials rules, and new guidance on metal panels, canopy detailing and color limits; staff will schedule a planning commission hearing.
City staff and consultant Pape Dawson briefed the joint City Council and Planning Commission on proposed amendments to the citys design guidelines during a June 3 workshop, describing a package of clarifications and new options intended to modernize materials guidance and provide more predictable review standards.
Kevin Gunther of Pape Dawson summarized the updates principal changes: a three-category approach to formal open space (exempt, required, or eligible for an enhanced-landscape option), clearer thresholds for when formal open space applies (for example, multifamily/townhomes at nine dwelling units per acre or greater), and a new chart that links land use to formal-open-space requirements. "Weve created three categories," Gunther said, explaining that some land uses will be exempt (notably industrial uses), others required to provide formal open space, and a third group given the choice of formal open space or enhanced landscape.
The enhanced-landscape alternative calls for wider landscape beds with three distinct plant layers (tree canopy, understory, ground cover) and allows the enhancement of one layer with features such as bollards if appropriate. The consultant said the goal is to preserve quality on sites where formal open space might not function well.
The update also clarifies architectural expectations: window-percentage guidance for frontages, orientation standards to keep building fronts facing streets, and material rules that allow metal panels on commercial and industrial buildings subject to coverage, color and texture limits. Gunther described new flexibility for gas-station and car-wash canopies, allowing pitched or detailed flat roofs rather than prescriptive mansard or sloped roofs.
For industrial buildings, the draft requires material variation on long facades (buildings longer than 200 feet should show material changes and three distinct facades) and calls for visibility and window application along entrances where office or showroom space exists. Townhomes and multifamily housing retain brick, cementitious siding and stone as primary materials; buildings of three or more stories flip to commercial material requirements.
Staff said the update arose from eight stakeholder meetings with architects, developers and engineers and multiple staff sessions, and recommended moving the draft to a planning commission public hearing for adoption, followed by a council resolution of support. "Once the staff is ready to schedule a public hearing, the planning commission would have a hearing and consider this for adoption," Gunther said.
Staff encouraged continued quarterly stakeholder meetings to keep the guidelines current. No formal adoption occurred at the workshop; the update will proceed through the planning commission hearing process.
