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GRAPHICS AND PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS CONVENTIONAL CODES • Development standards are not illustrated and in many conventional codes the built result of the development standards is not fully understood and/or has never been tested or modeled • Abstract, hard to understand development standards such as FAR (Floor Area Ratio) are used to measure development capacity on site but do not provide a very clear picture of development that results • Zoning map, land use designations and development standards are the primary tools of the conventional code FORM-BASED CODES • Greater use of graphics to explain community goals and desired urban form to applicants, neighborhood groups and administrators • A Regulating Plan replaces the conventional code zoning map and land use designations; development standards are keyed to the Regulating Plan • Development standards and expected building form is illustrated in plans, sections, 3-D models and/or axonometrics, and photos • Other innovative tools are used by some form-based codes such as Building Types, which codify historic and/or desirable building types. Codes that use this tool include NorthWest Crossing in Bend, Oregon and City of Ventura, California What are the advantages of Form-Based Codes? • Form-based codes are better at illustrating community plans and vision • Building and street design is coordinated • Urban form is more predictable • A more gradual transition between adjacent areas with different development intensities is easier to achieve • Can specify the tapering of height, bulk, massing and lot coverage of buildings toward residential and/or natural edges • High density development is more carefully designed, attractive and compatible What are the pitfalls of Form-Based Codes? • Cities must consider what approving bodies will administer the code and whether current review processes and review bodies will be adequate; rarely is a form-based code able to be administered without some modification • Some cities have legal restrictions against using illustrations to set development standards; in these cases the illustrations are used to augment text and numerical standards but are not legally binding What is a Hybrid Code? • One that incorporates the form-based code approach toward form, but uses the provisions, processes and standards from the current code • Often take the form of a chapter within the code, similar to a special district or an overlay • Hybrid codes cross reference other sections of the existing code for development standards such as parking dimensions or landscaping standards 338 fVW 5TH AVENUE PURTLANO OR 97209 i 503.445.7372 i 503.445.7395 >•Ci;:;i'�:C,�. ..