
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Drafting Regulations

Monday, August 4, 2008
Findings Continued

Given the necessary scope of sign code amendments, in terms of process and complexity, it is not intended that this project involve such revisions.
Staff will develop regulations that would permit/promote these kinds of signs to add to the sense of place for the Harborside district.
Findings Continued

"Buildings shall respect the architectural heritage of the neighborhood with complimentary choices for materials, building scale, proportions and architectural details".
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Findings Continued

However in terms of awnings, the Strorefront Doc states,
“keep it light and airy using translucent materials to allow sunlight to filter through and provide views of overhead signage”.

Staff intent to add language to the regulations to promote the types of solutions such as the one pictured here.
Findings Continued

However, the majority of the Design Regulations document states specific requirements. The 1st section (Site Plan, Buildings) incorporates a number of key elements that are identified in the 2006 Storefront Document, making only a few additions necessary.
Given the general strength of the existing Design Regulations, staff have identified three aspects of the 2006 work that we would like to incorporate. Regulations dealing with: AWNINGS, FACADE MATERIALS, and ARCHITECTURAL SIGNAGE
Findings Continued

Analysis Phase Complete - Findings
The rules defined in the Design Regulations & Guidelines document help direct the look and function of new development in our city.
The rules require design that is human scaled, people oriented, neighborhood appropriate, builds on our community's history and addresses the street and public areas.
The rules require design that is human scaled, people oriented, neighborhood appropriate, builds on our community's history and addresses the street and public areas.
Staff's presentation to the Planning Commission on July 22, 2008 was intended to gain direction from the Planning Commission. The next step will be to draft appropriate Code language, conduct additional public outreach, and return to the Planning Commission shortly.
The adaptation and adoption process involved looking at two specific documents developed in 2006 as part of the Windjammer Program to see how they could best be incorporated into our Design Regulations for the Harborside District (Downtown Streetscape and Storefront Design Guidelines).
The Downtown Streetscape document defines details, often called “street furniture”, that will become components of the Pioneer Way street improvement program.
These describe the elements that are within the public realm, and would largely only relate to new developments, such as street lights, landscaping, public art, benches, bike racks, etcetera.

However, much of the suggested design solutions are site and building specific, and do not provide direction for new development within the district. This project is intended to take the main principles of that work and incorporate it in the existing Design Regulations so that it is fair and useable for all sites within the Harborside area.
Planning Commission Meeting July 22
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Public Participation

This document was completed in 2006 as part of the Windjammer program in cooperation with Harborside stakeholders, including: City staff; consultant; and, the Harborside Shops Association Streetscape Committee (see list of participants on inside cover of Storefront Design Guidelines document).
Labels:
comments,
public participation,
purpose
Public Participation

Expect for two or three telephone calls and a couple of in person chats about the scope of the project, there have been no formal comments on this project forwarded to date.
Labels:
comments,
public participation,
purpose
Project Area

The harborside area is the traditional downtown and was developed with a more street oriented form (such as buildings located at the sidewalk edge, limited off street parking, limited landscaping along street). The Lower Pioneer area has the buildings set back significantly from the street.
Both areas have many of the same elements including building facades dominated by ground floor commercial storefronts facing the street. However, the way the buildings and parking have been aranged on the sites, as well as the archtictural styles of buildings, make these two areas signifcantly different from each other. The result is that the Lower Pioneer area is more auto oriented than the Harborside area.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Subscribe - Automatic Updates

In the left hand sidebar you see this icon under the heading Subscribe. By clicking on it you can have updates automatically sent to you – this is called an RSS feed.
Click here to see a short 3 min video explaining how it works, and how to sign up for this free service.
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new feature,
RSS,
subscribe
Monday, June 23, 2008
Poll Results

Labels:
Lower Pioneer Way,
Poll
Monday, June 2, 2008
Translating Windjammer Guidelines

The work to develop the recommendations in this document came from a series of cooperative workshops with the City, and the Harborside Shops Association Streetscape Committee.
Why not just adopt the Storefront Design Guidelines? There are two main reasons why simple adoption of these, as they are, is not appropriate:
1. many of the guidelines are too specific (a particular building, solution, or site) to be effective and fair as regulations for the entire area;
2. the guidelines are not written in a way that they can be used to review applications in a consistent and effective way.
Essentially this project will allow us to take one last look at both documents, and translate the many great ideas, and important work contained in them, into regulations that are consistent, fair and effective.
Friday, May 23, 2008
New Poll Question

The first poll question is: "Should the "Lower Pioneer Way" area (SR-20 to City Beach Street) be included in the design regulations update?"
Labels:
Lower Pioneer Way,
Pioneer Way,
Poll,
project area
Monday, May 19, 2008
Good Site Design = Livability

S - SAFE
A - ATTRACTIVE
F - FITS THE NEIGHBORHOOD
E - EFFICIENT AND USEABLE
This involves attention to how sites, buildings, open spaces, and streets work together to create a positive sense of place. At the scale of a street, neighborhood, or an entire city these combine with environmental, social and economic characteristics to greatly affect the livability of our community.
Labels:
design regulations,
livability,
SAFE,
sense of place,
urban design
Design Regulations

These rules have been created to meet the community's long term goals defined in the Comprehensive Plan.
The rules require design that is human scaled, people oriented, neighborhood appropriate, builds on our community's history and addresses the street and public areas.
Labels:
design regulations,
purpose,
urban design
Welcome
With this blog I am inviting you to participate in the City's project to update our Design Regulations. This update will focus on specific design provisions for the historic downtown district.
As with the other project blogs, I am using this site as a central location or framework for community participation and communication, and have included many of the same features.
In addition to this blog, small group round table discussions, coffee house meetings, and other methods will again be used to create an open dialog during this project (in addition to standard meeting and notice practices). Check back here regularly to find:
- up-to-date information;
- report videos;
- monthly poll questions;
- discussion items;
- meeting schedules; and
- a variety of supporting documents and web links.
Labels:
purpose,
urban design,
welcome
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