15.12.085 Community design.
A. Development of Neighborhoods. Each new residential project shall be designed to be integrated with the surrounding neighborhood to ensure that it maintains the established character. Subdivisions in city expansion areas should be designed so that individual, separately developed projects work together to create distinct neighborhoods, instead of disjointed or isolated enclaves.
B. Integration with Existing/Planned Open Space. New subdivisions adjacent to planned or existing parks or other public open spaces (e.g., creeks, riparian areas), or the landscaped grounds of schools or other public facilities should maximize visibility and pedestrian access to these areas through street configuration, pathways, and development orientation.
C. Integration with Natural Amenities. Natural amenities (views, mature trees, creeks, rock outcrops, and other similar features) should be preserved and integrated with the development as an amenity to the maximum extent feasible and as required in the Zoning Code. Clustering of lots/units and adjusting roadway configuration to integrate these features is encouraged as a means of achieving these goals. Public access and visibility to these natural amenities is encouraged. For example, trails along the perimeter of wetland buffers are an attractive option.
D. Edges and Fences.
1. “Gated communities,” and other residential developments designed to appear as continuous walled-off areas, disconnected and isolated from the rest of the community, shall not be permitted. Design shall consider neighborhood focus points and opportunities to promote participation and integration into the surrounding neighborhood and the Lacey community. While walls and fences may be useful for security, sound attenuation and privacy, these objectives can often be met by creative design that controls the height and length of walls, develops breaks and variations in relief, and uses landscaping, along with natural topographical changes, for screening.
2. Encourage residential developments to face arterials (except for principal arterials) instead of backing up to them and walling off the street. Such lots along arterials could be designed with alleys to provide for garage access.
3. For fences along side yards at the end of a block, a three-foot planting strip with native and drought tolerant shrubs and groundcover is required to help screen the fence and add visual interest. Where more than one house backs up to a public right-of-way, planting strips at least ten feet wide with a combination of trees, and native and drought tolerant shrubs, and groundcover sufficient to screen the fence are required. Vegetated LID facilities can also be used to meet screening requirements. The required landscaped areas and fence location shall be noted on the plat.
E. Architectural Diversity. Subdivisions shall be designed to accommodate a variety of architectural treatments pursuant to LMC 14.23.072. (Ord. 1520 §53, 2017; Ord. 1496 §29, 2016; Ord. 1310 §12, 2008).