Downtown Design Guidelines
Summary
The City Council has directed the Design Commission to develop Design Guidelines for downtown development.
Status
The Design Commission has a developed scope of work and a proposed work schedule. A status report of their work on the Design Guidelines will be sent to Council by late February.
Issues
The Design Commission has developed a scope of work for the guidelines that will address, as a minimum but will not be limited to:
- The intention and underlying philosophy of the Design Guidelines
- The interaction and impact of individual projects on the fabric of the downtown area: downtown grid; street patterns; view corridors, and; massing
- The interface of public and private activities and specifically the character of the relationship of buildings to people at the street level: parking; land use at street level; shelter from weather at sidewalk areas, and; street furniture, lighting and landscape
- The architectural quality and character of new projects and redevelopment of existing buildings.
- The process for implementation of the Design Guidelines
- The process for periodic review and revision of the Design Guidelines
Description
On November 6, 1997 the City Council approved a resolution stating that:
"The City Council requests that the Design Commission prepare draft design guidelines for the city's downtown region within 60 days; and that these guidelines should exemplify ideals such as a pedestrian and bicycle mobility and urban core vitality expressed through past Council actions, previous planning studies and recommendations and community consensus building exercises such as the Citizen's Planning Committee, the Heritage Society, and R/UDAT."
At one of their first meetings the Design Commission met with Heritage Austin to discuss the relationship between their development of design guidelines and Heritage Austin's broader planning process. The two groups plan to share space at the Storefront Community Design Center that Heritage Austin will be establishing on Congress Avenue.
Basic Data
- Project Contact: Michael Knox, Senior Planner, Planning, Environmental and Conservation Services Department, 499-6418
Revised February 20, 1998
Back to the January 1998 Contents
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