14.23.076 Design Criteria For Townhouses

14.23.076 Design Criteria For Townhouses.

The following criteria will be utilized by staff in review of a project’s design. Additional design strategies may be considered if they meet the intent of this section to provide for an attractive development that is complementary to the existing neighborhood and addresses functional components of design in the context of the needs of future residents and surrounding neighbors. Townhouses are also subject to the multi-family design criteria in this section and other design criteria in LMC 14.23.080; the townhouse design criteria herein shall apply.

1. To ensure that townhouse developments enhance the character of the street.

2. To reduce the impact of garages and driveways on the pedestrian environment.

3. To reduce the apparent bulk and scale of townhouse buildings.

4. To promote architectural variety that adds visual interest to the neighborhood.

5. To promote infill development compatible and complementary to the surrounding neighborhood.

6. To promote attractive, safe and functional design that addresses the needs of future residents and is properly integrated into the surrounding neighborhood environment. (See Table 14T-40.)

B. Street Access. Townhouses fronting a street must all have individual ground-related entries accessible from the street. Configurations where enclosed rear yards back up to a street are prohibited. The director may allow exceptions to these rules depending on the nature of the site and where design treatments have been included to enhance the character of the street. Such departure must meet the intent of the guidelines and goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan in terms of desired character of the area and pedestrian access.

C. Pedestrian Entries. New developments must emphasize individual pedestrian entrances over private garages to the extent possible by using both of the following measures:

1. Enhance entries with a trellis, small porch, or other architectural feature that provides cover for a person entering the unit and a transitional space between outside and inside the dwelling.

2. Provide a rain garden, where feasible, or planted area in front of each pedestrian entry of at least twenty square feet in area, with no dimension less than four feet. Provide a combination of native and drought tolerant shrubs or groundcover and a street tree. (Refer to city arborist or street tree list.)

D. Garage Configuration. For any townhouse configuration where the primary pedestrian access is off the same facade as vehicular access, developments shall incorporate single-width parking configurations for at least fifty percent of the units. This will minimize the impact of garage doors on the pedestrian environment. The director may grant departures to this provision provided design treatments effectively minimize the impacts of garage doors on the pedestrian environment. (See Table 14T-41.)

E. Driveways on Private Internal Streets. Where townhouse units are served by private internal streets, developments are encouraged to limit the depth of driveways between the streets and the garage wall to de-emphasize vehicular access. Driveway depths of five to ten feet are appropriate to allow the maneuverability and provide space to include the required landscaping and entry elements for each unit. The shallow width also discourages residents from parking cars in their driveways. By default, this encourages residents to keep their vehicles in their garage. Additional surface parking spots should be scattered around the development to provide space for guests. (See Table 14T-42.)

F. Building Articulation. Townhouse buildings shall be articulated to emphasize individual units. Thus, if individual units are fifteen feet wide, the building shall include at least three articulation features per Guideline LMC 14.23.080(D)(2) for all facades facing a street, common open space, and common parking areas at intervals no greater than fifteen feet.

G. Repetition with Variety. Townhouse developments shall employ two or more of the following “repetition with variety” guidelines:

1. Reversing the elevation of two out of four dwellings for townhouses.

2. Providing different building elevations for external townhouse units (versus internal units) by changing the roofline, articulation, windows, and/or building modulation patterns.

3. Adding a different dwelling design or different scale of the same design, such as a one-story version of the basic dwelling design where two stories are typical (or a two story design where three stories are typical).

4. Other design treatments that add variety or provide special visual interest. While the variable use of color on buildings can be effective in reducing the perceived scale of the building and adding visual interest, color changes alone are not sufficient to meet the intent of the criteria. (See Table 14T-43.) (Ord. 1496 §10, 2016; Ord. 1310 §7, 2008).