ATTACHMENT L –
APPLICABLE DESIGN GUIDELINES IDENTIFIED BY STAFF
Design-Related Policies in the Land Use Element of the General Plan:
4.10: Locate and design buildings to relate to and frame major public streets, open spaces, and cityscape. New development at intersections should consider any number of corner treatments, and should balance safety and accessibility concerns with the vision of the area and the need for buildings to engage the street and create a distinct urban edge.
4.11: Require that development demonstrates a contextual relationship with neighboring structures and sites addressing such elements as building scale, massing, orientation, setbacks, buffering, the arrangement of shared and private open spaces, visibility, privacy, automobile and truck access, impacts of noise and lighting, landscape quality, infrastructure, and aesthetics.
7.1: Design each building as a high-quality, long term addition to the City’s urban fabric; exterior design and buildings material shall exhibit permanence and quality, minimize maintenance concerns, and extend the life of the building.
7.2: Allow for the development of a diversity of buildings styles. Support innovative and creative design solutions to issues related to context and environmental sustainability.
7.3: Require that new and adaptively re-used buildings are designed to respect and complement the defining built form, massing, scale, modulation, and architectural detailing of their contextual setting.
10.7: Encourage sustainable practices for landscape materials, landscape design, and land development.
23.3: Provide appropriate setbacks, consistent with the surrounding neighborhood, along the street frontage and, where there are setbacks, ensure adequate landscaping is provided.
25.4: Require that new development protect community character by providing architecture, landscaping, and urban design of equal or greater quality than existing and by respecting the architectural character and scale of adjacent buildings.
East Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan:
Goal 1: A public realm, including sidewalks, paseos, plazas, and pocket parks, that are safe and accessible to the general public and contribute to the ECSP area’s overall identity and sense of place.
Policy: 1.c: Enhanced Storefronts. Promote enhanced storefronts that engage the public realm with street-oriented entrances, modulated facades, and pedestrian amenities in the public realm.
Goal 5: Complementary building forms that fit the scale of the neighborhood and support a vibrant, walkable district.
Policy 5.a: Architectural Diversity. Allow for a range of architectural styles and forms that provide visual interest and quality design through massing and façade standards.
Policy 5.b: Scaled Transitions. Provide upper floor stepbacks where new development is adjacent to lower density residential districts.
Goal 6: Ample access to open space for both passive and active enjoyment.
Policy 6.b: Commercial Open Space. Require large nonresidential or mixed-use projects to provide open space for residents, employees, and visitors.
Policy 6.c: Quality Design. Introduce open space design standards meant to create usable and functional open space for residents, employees, and visitors alike.
Policy 6.d: Urban Greening. Use all open space areas to further environmental goals – such as carbon sequestration and reducing the urban heat island effect – through tree planting, stormwater capture, and native landscaping.
Goal 14: A commercial corridor supported by a mix of uses and housing opportunities connected by an enhanced public realm.
Policy 14.c: Pedestrian-Oriented Design. Balance the needs of auto-oriented uses with the desire for a walkable neighborhood character and enhanced pedestrian mobility by requiring pedestrian-oriented site design and features.
Policy 14.d: Lower-Scale Character. Maintain character to reflect existing form and strengthen neighborhood identity.
Design Guidelines for Neighborhood Commercial and Multi-family Residential Districts:
• 2.2 Activating the street. New multi-family and mixed-use buildings should be designed with frontages that activate the street by providing direct access to their ground floor dwellings and commercial spaces.
• 5.1: Provide well-marked, articulated building entrances oriented to streets and public space.
• 11.1 All buildings should incorporate: A full array of architectural elements associated with their chosen style; the compositional, structural, and constructional logic associated with that style; and the material logic associated with that style.
• 11.2 The style of a new building should be clear and consistent, whether traditional or contemporary. Hybrid projects are discouraged.
• 11.4 Contemporary architecture. Buildings designed in contemporary styles may adhere to a set of rules that is established and followed through by the designer.
The design strategy must be described in conformance with Appendix A3 (Preliminary Review).
• 13. The means and methods of construction of new buildings should contribute to their durability, usefulness, and compatibility.
• 14.1 Details. Window and door assemblies should be chosen that conform to the precedents of traditional styles or the intentions of contemporary design in terms of material, dimension, and detail.
• 14.3 Configurations. The orientation and proportion of openings should be consistent with the architectural language chosen for a project. Openings should relate to one another according to a clear system of composition and structure.
• 18 Landscape and hardscape. Landscape and hardscape should enhance the character of new buildings, address the Pasadena climate, and facilitate sustainable water use and drainage strategies.
• 18.1 Compatibility. Landscape and hardscape design should be compatible with the chosen architectural style of a building.