Findings Continued

The existing design regulations define some elements that are not permited such as prohibiting “blank walls” and back-lit awnings.

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

The character or context of an area is defined by such factors as its architectural style, and quality of public facilities.

The design regulations help ensure that new development will be compatible and complimentary to the existing character and community's vision of the city.

The Design Regulations use the accronym SAFE to define the parameters for all new development.
Safe stands for

S—safe

A—attractive

F—fits the neighborhood

E—efficient and useable

There are also additional regulations that are specific to three areas of the city because of their unique nature. These are the SR-20 and Midway Avenue corridors, and Harborside

Analysis Phase Complete - Findings

This update is focusing on specific design provisions for the historic downtown district.

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.

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 Planning Commission will then be forwarding a recommendation on to City Council.

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.

The Storefront document states that its objective includes restoring the character, integrity, and visual appeal of existing downtown buildings.

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

On July 22, staff presented the findings of the analysis phase of this project to the Planning Commission.

I will be describing the results of this analysis in a series of posts.

Translating Windjammer Guidelines

The backbone of this update of the Design Regulations will be the Storefront Design Guidelines published in October 2006 and Streetscape Furnishing Specs draft report. These documents compile the results of work done as part of the City's Windjammer Project and illustrate the main components of the streetscape that affect the character of this district. The documents contains numerous detailed recommendations that help define critical streetscape issues and actions that could improve the sense of place for the area.

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.