Agenda - Planning Commission - 08/04/2016

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A lively neighborhood commercial district. or districts that function as a home for them, with the understanding that they may locate within other commercial districts within the community. Commercial districts, including mixed use districts, should be tailored to their form and function, including regulations control- ling development bulk, use mix, functionality (related to whether the commercial district serves the local community or the larger re- gion), and street frontage types. The standards for districts should recognize that the physical character of the sites within districts vary, from small, shallow lots occupied primarily by small businesses in local commercial districts, to larger sites for multitenant retail development in regional commercial areas. Again, while small businesses can find their way into most commercial districts, ordi- nances should have a district that is tailored to the smaller form of small business clusters. In many communities these are the original main streets that served the surrounding neighborhoods, and there may be one or more of these areas within a municipality. Local, or neighborhood -serving, commercial districts are appropriate for small businesses, based on their smaller overall form. Standards for commercial clusters or main street corridors should be crafted to en- sure compatibility between these commercial areas and neighboring residences, maintain the proper scale of commercial use, and ad- dress the unique issues related to smaller commercial sites structured as a walkable com- mercial environment. The standards for [commercial] districts should recognize that the physical character of the sites within districts vary, from small, shallow lots occupied primarily by small businesses in local commercial districts, to larger sites for multitenant retail development in regional commercial areas. Dimensional and design standards for these areas should have standards that are attractive to small businesses. This means maintaining a small scale and pedestrian orientation in local commercial areas to en- courage visitors to interact with multiple small businesses. Dimensional and design standards that accomplish these goals include the follow- ing requirements: • Establishing small setbacks to bring build- ings close to the street • Requiring windows along street frontages to create a safe and welcoming pedestrian environment • Requiring public entrances to be oriented toward primary streets or important corners • Limiting stand-alone parking lots and struc- tures to community parking facilities that reinforce a pedestrian environment by mak- ing it convenient for visitors arriving by car to park in a central location • Minimizing curb cuts and size of driveways • Establishing proper transitions to and buff- ering of residential uses, which typically include smaller landscape buffer yards It's also important to consider the im- pacts of sign regulations and parking require- ments. Businesses of any size rely on signs to advertise their presence. If a sign code does not allow for sufficient signage, it causes diffi- culty for business owners. Therefore permitted sign types and sizes should be keyed to the general scale of the district. In addition, the number of sign types and the size of these signs allowed should be appropriately scaled to buildings. Smaller projecting signs are appropriate, as are wall signs. While projecting signs can be limited to a smaller square footage per establish- ment, wall signs should be proportional to the facade, typically using a "sign square footage per linear foot of facade" control. For wall signs in particular, this is important because small signs on large facades can look just as out of scale as large signs on small facades. The small, shallow, and narrow lots that are often found in small -business -oriented districts create considerable encumbrances on lots because of lack of space for required off- street parking. Therefore, parking exemptions may be needed for certain districts or areas where on -site parking is difficult or impossible to accommodate. Local commercial districts may be exempted from parking requirements entirely. Other areas may exempt based on the size of the business —for example, exempting the first 3,00o square feet from parking calcu- lations --in order to provide relief to new devel- ZONINGPRACTICE 7.16 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Ipage 6