11-25-13-R - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Section D that allows the Community Development Department to approve new materials of equal or better quality other than those listed. Section E: Building Design Section E provides guidelines for the overall design of buildings, including façade articulation and building placement in relation to lot lines. The design standards now require awnings or overhangs to be provided above all entryways to provide protection for pedestrians. Under the existing wording, awnings must be included above service entrances as well. Staff has made a revision to only require awnings above the primary entryway and entrances that front a public street. Section F: Window and Door Openings Section F includes requirements on transparent window coverage for commercial properties. Currently, every ground floor façade that fronts a public street or that includes the primary building entrance must have 50 percent window transparency coverage. For building walls that are reasonably visible to the public, windows must cover 20 percent of facades and up to half of these windows can be simulated. The revisions attempt to accommodate businessesto have a sufficient amount of non- transparent building walls for service areas within stores while still providing adequate window transparency. These updates would also bring the Arden Hills design standards more in line with the regulations that have been adopted by other municipalities in the metro area. The new standards would require 50 percent window transparency coverage only on those building walls that front a public street. Building façades that are reasonably visible to the public would be required to have 20 percent window coverage, but there would be no restriction on the percentage of simulated windows used for service areas. Window transparency for multi-family residential uses, which are allowed in the B-2 District as a conditional use, is not currently addressed in Section F. Staff has made revisions to include residential façade transparency requirements that conform to the existing design standards while recognizing that the transparency requirements for commercial properties are not necessarily appropriate for residential buildings. Guidelines for window and door arrangement on a building wall are included in the revisions as well. These guidelines are meant to ensure consistency between the overall design of the building façade and the placement of window and door openings. The list of acceptable materials for windows and doors complements the permitted building wall materials for the districts. Section Q: Bicycle Parking Section P of the design standards addresses pedestrian and bicycle circulation improvements. Bike racks shall be City of Arden Hills Planning Commission Meeting for November 6, 2013 P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2013\PC 13-007 - B-2 Design Standard Amendments (Pending)\PC Packet (11-6- 13)_PC 13-007 35 Page of