Jurisdictions can guide placemaking and design quality through articulation of the vision to citizens, developers, and staff in all city departments by establishing design recommendations, or guidelines, early on in the process. The development of guidelines should be clearly stated in the General Plan and supported by appropriate zoning regulations. Jurisdictions can then conduct developer outreach to convey the community vision early in the development process.
Create and distribute best practice development guidelines to give developers an idea of what good design is for projects within the city. This allows developers to formulate proposals that meet the city’s vision of good development. Agencies may consider providing developers with “staff reports” on previous projects to give them information on the City’s response to previous projects and their designs.
Create design guidelines to articulate the community’s vision for specific districts. While there is no specific format for design guidelines, they usually identify non-quantifiable provisions, leaving the numeric standards for the zoning regulations.
- Coordinate zoning standards and other development regulations with design guidelines for consistency.
- Balance standards with guidelines to allow for flexibility and creativity in the design process.
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