Planning Commission Agenda and Packet 2013 07 11

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Planning Commission Staff Report July 11, 2013 a. Vary the horizontal plane of a building to provide visual interest and enrich the pedestrian experience, while contributing to the quality and definition of the street wall. b. Horizontal variation should be of an appropriate scale and reflect changes in the building function, structure, and materials. c. Avoid extensive blank walls that would detract from the experience and appearance of an active streetscape. d. Provide well-marked public and private entrances to cue access and use through compatible architectural and graphic treatments. e. Provide operable doors and windows on the ground floor street front of buildings f. Main residential building entrances should read differently from retail storefronts, restaurants, and commercial entrances. 2) VERTICAL VARIATION a. Employ a different architectural treatment on the ground floor façade than on the upper floors, and feature high quality materials that add scale, texture and variety at the pedestrian level. b. Vertically articulate the street wall façade, establishing different treatment for the building's base and upper floors c. Use balconies, fenestration, or other elements to create an interesting pattern of projections and recesses. d. Provide an identifiable break between the building's ground floors and upper floors. This break shall include a change in material, change in fenestration pattern or similar means. e. Provide more fenestration on the ground floor than upper floors. Staff requires the above Design Conditions be addressed prior to final submittal. Special Review Use Criteria: Louisville Municipal Code § 17.40.100.A lists five criteria to be considered by the Planning Commission in reviewing a Special Review Use application, which follow. The Planning Commission is authorized to place conditions on their recommendation of approval, if they believe those are necessary to comply with all of the criteria. 1. That the proposed use/development is consistent in all respects with the spirit and intent of the comprehensive plan and of this chapter, and that it would not be contrary to the general welfare and economic prosperity of the city or the immediate neighborhood; Exhibit A, which designates the land use framework for the MUDDSG, originally required ground floor retail along Cannon and South Street. In 2012 the City Council authorized a modification to the MUDDSG to permit ground floor residential, along Cannon and South Street, as a special review use (SRU). The 2012 Comprehensive Plan, which City Council adopted in 2013, reflects the land use framework as it was established in the MUDDSG and updated in Exhibit A. Therefore this request is consistent with the spirit and intent of the comprehensive plan. 6