03/13/2017 City Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Downtown is zoned C-3 Major Commercial and C-2 Community Commercial (Attachment A), both of which require buildings to be located within 15 -feet of the front property line. The C-3 zone is limited to the downtown core, but the C-2 zone is found citywide, mainly along major streets. There are also several applicable special area and overlay zones. Notably for this work session, the /BW Broadway overlay zone was created after more detailed design and planning work that coincided with the re -opening of the street to vehicular traffic. The front setback along Broadway was reduced to no greater than two feet, thereby ensuring a continuous street frontage and sense of enclosure along one of our Great Streets. That sense of enclosure is an important element of a comfortable urban walking environment. Examples of varying street and development conditions throughout the downtown will be presented at the work session. There are places where a small setback works well, such as along Broadway, and other places where increased setbacks may provide for a better pedestrian experience. Staff will discuss the various factors affecting the success of the pedestrian environment, including the following: ■ Street type and function. The speed of travel and dominant function or mode of transportation affects the quality of the pedestrian environment. ■ Street width. The public right-of-way width, number of lanes for various uses, and design can make streets function and feel differently. ■ Adjacent land use/ private development. Building materials, active or inactive uses, the presence or absence of windows, the height of the first floor, setbacks and design features such as landscaping are private elements affecting the public realm. ■ Context within downtown. As noted above, all buildings in downtown must be located within 15 -feet of the front property line. However, this blanket standard fails to recognize the different context of downtown streets (e.g., Olive Street transitions from commercial to office to residential between 8th and 13th Avenues). If the land use code were to be revised to increase required setbacks, the amount of leasable square footage on a given development site could be reduced. However, depending on the context within downtown, increasing setbacks may be one of several actions needed to create the desired street side character. Along residential frontages, landscaping is often used in urban areas as a means of delineating private space and creating privacy. Again, the location, width, and type of landscaping will be dependent on context. Examples of successful street frontages will be shared at the work session. CURRENT RELATED EFFORTS Several current projects address walkability issues in downtown and elsewhere in the community. ■ Street Design Standards. Public Works is updating the current street design manual to reflect multi -modal and safety related policy directives. ■ Willamette to Willamette will return 8th Avenue to a two-way street. This is a long-standing downtown priority. ■ Special Setbacks along Key Transit Corridors. Council gave City staff direction to create special setbacks along Franklin Boulevard to preserve adequate width for implementation of a redesigned street. That direction will be extended through the Moving Ahead project, as the