Sustainable Design Toolkit Strategy

Strategy 28: Sustainable Design Toolkit Strategy

Strategy Description:

This strategy focuses on the development of a toolkit of various methods to implement and encourage sustainable development at the municipal level. The goal is a user friendly, simple product that even municipalities with limited staff can use to facilitate changes to current rules and regulations. Using the results of the Land Development Audit, a municipality would be able to use the toolkit to select and adjust a model that fits their needs. The development of the toolkit would be high priority and targeted as an immediate action in order to have the models in place prior to audit completion.

Key Components:

Organize a regional design task force (see Strategy 27: Land Development Audit) with a lead agency to complete the toolkit project. This project may be pursued as a part of the regional design task force activities or may be pursued by a subcommittee of the task force.

Contact potential members of the regional design task force. Possible participants could include:

Centre County Planning Office
Centre Regional Planning Agency
Municipal Departments of Public Works
Municipal or Regional Authorities
Road or Highway Departments
Developers
Educators
Architects
Clearwater Conservancy and other land trusts
Realtors
Banking Institutions
Civic Associations
Fire Officials
Land Use Attorneys
Engineering Consultants
Homeowner Associations
Elected Officials
Local Chambers of Commerce

Designate a lead agency to organize the effort, apply for and administer grants and funding, and manage the project. The most appropriate lead agency (non-profit, governmental, or educational agency) would have access to funding programs and would have a professional staff with expertise in design and project management.

Determine the level of effort and commitment of task force members and the need for consultant assistance.

Recognize the following expectations for the final product:

User friendly, simple, and brief
Inclusion of graphics and photos in a both a digital and hard copy format
Inclusion of illustrated scenarios to show concepts and examples of how they will work locally
Flexible for adjustments to unique needs and compromise by different municipalities
Easily integrated into municipal standards and regulations

Create the sustainable design toolkit with the following elements:

Master Plan Tool – Master Plan targeted areas within a municipality before development occurs. This tool would apply to Borough/small village growth areas, infill sites, Transferrable Development Rights (TDR) receiving areas (see Strategy 26: Agricultural Diversification Promotion), and urban growth areas. Site master planning is meant to guide future planning proactively while allowing flexibility and creativity in the final development. The tool would include the following features:

Application of site planning principles (see Strategy 27: Land Development Audit) in a conceptual manner to address access, circulation, open space and linkages, natural resource protection areas, surrounding influences, etc.
Consideration of developer incentives and streamlining the process.
Consideration of questions regarding implementation, scale and size of the plan, municipal partnerships, and the use of charettes or other design and public involvement techniques.
Implementation on a municipal or joint municipal level by either an outside consultant or the first developer into the area.
Preparation of a description of requirements and examples to guide the implementation of this tool.

Model Ordinances – The model ordinances should move the region towards the area-wide objectives and the sustainable vision.

Begin by reviewing existing models that have been applied successfully in regions similar to the Mid-Bald Eagle Watershed. Target models consistent with the Land Use Classification Matrix (see Strategy 2: Future Land Use Scenario, for more principles). The models would address specific design principles.

Models for Rural Resource Areas:

Effective Agricultural Zoning Models

Design Principles: See Strategy 26: Agricultural Diversification Promotion for the land development principles.

Open Space Development Models including Community On-Lot Water and Wastewater Systems within Open Space.

Design Principles: Identify constraints of a community system and how to address water and sewer availability in Rural Resource Areas for clustering of units.

Models for Village/Small Borough Growth Areas:

Village and Small Borough Infill Models

Design Principles: Identify standards for minimum and maximum lot size, density, minimum open space, minimum and maximum front yard setback, maximum building envelope, minimum and maximum lot width, and consideration of innovative techniques, such as zero-lot line.

Residential Neighborhood and Residential Center Models

Design Principles: Mimic layout characteristics of adjacent village/small borough (alleys, setbacks, etc.); hide roadside parking from view if possible; encourage in home businesses; encourage front porches; ensure a mix of uses and housing types; promote a sense of neighborhood and community; include neighborhood greens or common open spaces; require pedestrian-oriented circulation and non-motorized links to reduce dependency on the automobile; provide public transportation access; encourage flexible design standards to encourage architectural uniqueness within context of the community; incorporate activity centers (fitness, daycare, meeting, sales, bus stop, youth center, etc.); provide human scale lighting, signage, and crossing improvements; require street trees; and provide common locations for car washing, gardening, recycling, etc.

Neighborhood Business and Educational Center Models

Design Principles: Require pedestrian-oriented circulation; provide public transit access; require architectural compatibility; limit parking on street side of building and encourage large parking areas in structures or behind the building; require street tree planting and landscaped islands in parking lots to buffer views of cars from the street and pedestrian circulation ways; limit building mass and height; encourage green building technology; encourage shared use spaces (overflow parking, recycling and refuse centers, services, etc.); permit compatible mixed uses; and create a human scale/campus type atmosphere.

Models for Urban Growth Areas

Reuse and Revitalization Models Targeted for Brownfields and Infill Development Sites

Design Principles: Provide incentives (e.g., density, design, monetary) and streamline the review process; use special guidelines and zoning overlays to encourage compatible design (e.g., minimum and maximum lot size, density, minimum open space, setbacks, building envelope, and roadway width); relax standards (e.g., setbacks, building mass and height restrictions, and maximum coverage) and other principles required for urban settings (see 8. Urban Development Models on p. 99).

Review Process Models

Principles: Identify a public review process and neighborhood involvement to promote a cooperative site planning process and resolve conflicts.

Urban Development Models

Design Principles: Provide consistent design standards for signage, lighting, landscaping, and street tree requirements; retrofit areas without stormwater management and address existing drainage problems; protect existing vegetation and natural features (address emergency service and regulatory limitations); encourage compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods by mimicking layout characteristics and settlement patterns (e.g., adjacent village/small borough alleys, setbacks, etc.) to promote a sense of neighborhood and community; require public water and sewer; permit and encourage a mix of land uses and housing types; encourage alternative and pedestrian circulation with mass transit access and links to civic and active use centers extending existing sidewalks and trails; and encourage shared use parking.

Determine if suitable models exist, and select appropriate models or develop a list of new models that will need to be created. Those successful models that have been built within the region should be given high priority.

Examples of Existing Models:

PENNscapes, a model ordinance currently being prepared by the Pennsylvania State University, would address residential development in Rural Resource Areas and Village/Small Borough Growth Areas. This model addresses rural open space development, cluster development as a balance between open space and development, and mixed use development for infill and traditional neighborhood design.

Models and Guidelines for Infill Development, a model ordinance prepared by the Implementation and Technical Assistance Unit, Maryland Department of Planning would address infill development in Village/Small Borough Growth Areas and Urban Growth Centers. This model should include guidelines using comparison graphics based on regional character examples. These could include parking/loading, lighting, signage, circulation, architectural features and landscaping standards.

List what needs to be included in each model based on the specific design principles listed above and site planning principles developed as part of the Land Development Audit Strategy, such as: permitted uses, open space, streets/circulation, stormwater management, lot configuration/blocks, architectural scale, massing, etc. Modify existing models or develop model ordinances using this list as a guide.

Determine a method of providing alternatives to allow each municipality to tailor the models to their unique needs. This may be done by providing various scenarios and responses.

Solicit input and support for the models from the municipal level site planning roundtable groups involved in preparing the audits as part of Strategy 27: Land Development Audit.

Regional Application:

This toolbox is best applied after a municipality has explored its current ordinance and determined, through the Land Development Audit, their specific needs. But, it is also applicable as a short-term response for municipalities that know where they could be applied. Development will continue to occur, regardless of how long it takes to properly plan, and this tool will respond to some of those short-term needs.

Indicators:

Number of models created
Number of ordinances amended using the Sustainable Design Toolkit

Funding:

Department of Community and Economic Development – Land Use Planning and Technical Assistance Program (LUP-TAP), a smart growth planning funding source

DEP – Land Recycling Program (Brownfield Redevelopment)

Community Development Block Grants (Low Income Redevelopment/ Development Areas)