Blueprint Toolkit

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Blueprint Toolkit

• Presentation

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San Joaquin Valley BlueprintIn Four Volumes

• Public Information Guide
• Elected and Appointed Officials Handbook
• Agency Staff Handbook
• Stewards and Stakeholders Handbook

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Public Information GuideBeneficiaries
Stakeholders

• Explain the vision of the Blueprint
• Gain public support for the Blueprint vision
• Invite participation

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Elected Appointed Officials Handbook

• Explain the Plan
• Vision, Goals, Policies, Maps
• What is it we are asking them to do.
• Check list for consistency with the Blueprint.
• A measurement of progress.

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Professional Staff HandbookCounties, Cities and
Special Districts

• More in-depth explanation of the Blueprint
• Recommended course of action
• Update General Plan
• Agency Master Plans
• Ordinance Standards Revisions
• Tool box for implementation
• Tools to measure progress

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Stewards Stakeholders HandbookBusiness,
Government, Interest Groups

• Establishing a structure to innovate,
  communicate, and collaborate
• How do we work together
• Process to monitor, implement, and update the
  Blueprint

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Blueprint Toolkit

• Form-Based Codes

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The Problem
Zoning has a history of changing over
time with little regard to building compatibility
with the surrounding neighborhood.
Moreover, most zoning codes focus on numbers and
ratios rather than on physical form and can't
discern between a multi-story apartment building
and a block of row houses, as they may be
statistically identical. Due to the risks and
uncertainty inherent with permitting under
conventional zoning codes, investors may also be
risk-adverse to making investments within urban
neighborhoods. Without predictability there can
be no investment security. As a response,
Form-Based Codes are becoming increasingly
popular in communities seeking practical ways to
grow smarter and provide certainty in an ever
more complex permitting process.
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Form-Based codes
A form-based code is a means of regulating
development to achieve a specific urban form.
Form-based codes create a predictable public
realm by controlling physical form primarily,
with a lesser focus on land use, through city or
county regulations. They are a response to the
modern challenges of urban sprawl, deterioration
of historic neighborhoods, and neglect of
pedestrian safety in new development. The
widespread adoption by cities of single-use
zoning regulations has discouraged compact,
walkable urbanism. Form-based codes are one of
the tools to address these deficiencies, and to
provide local governments the regulatory means to
achieve development objectives with greater
certainty.
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Form-Based codes include the following elements

• Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated
  area designating the locations where different
  building form standards apply, based on clear
  community intentions regarding the physical
  character of the area being coded.
• Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling
  the configuration, features, and functions of
  buildings that define and shape the public realm.
• Public Space/Street Standards. Specifications for
  the elements within the public realm (e.g.,
  sidewalks, travel lanes, street trees, street
  furniture, etc.).
• Administration. A clearly defined application and
  project review process.
• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use
  of technical terms.

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(3) GENERAL TRANSECT ZONE PURPOSE The General
zone is the largest area of most neighborhoods.
It is residential in character with a mix of
housing types including single family attached
and detached homes and multi-family units. Homes
located in the General zone are normally set back
from the front property line to allow a front
yard with a porch or stoop lots often have
private rear yards. GENERAL TRANSECT
ZONE HIGHLIGHTED ON MODEL REGULATING
PLAN PERMITTED LOT TYPES in the General transect
zone (refer to Section 3.01.03.EE.2.e)
Apartment Building Lot Live/Work Building Lot
Apartment House Lot Rowhouse Lot Cottage
House Lot Sideyard House Lot House Lot
Civic Building Lot BUILDING FORM AND PLACEMENT ON
LOTS for the General transect zone refer to
Section 3.01.03.EE.2.f. DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS for
the General transect zone refer to Section
3.01.03.EE.2.g. PERMITTED USES for the General
transect zone permitted uses are determined by
lot type -- refer to Section 3.01.03.EE.2.h.
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Form-Based codes include the following elements

• Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated
  area designating the locations where different
  building form standards apply, based on clear
  community intentions regarding the physical
  character of the area being coded.
• Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling
  the configuration, features, and functions of
  buildings that define and shape the public realm.
• Public Space/Street Standards. Specifications for
  the elements within the public realm (e.g.,
  sidewalks, travel lanes, street trees, street
  furniture, etc.).
• Administration. A clearly defined application and
  project review process.
• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use
  of technical terms.

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Building Form Standards
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Form-Based codes include the following elements

• Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated
  area designating the locations where different
  building form standards apply, based on clear
  community intentions regarding the physical
  character of the area being coded.
• Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling
  the configuration, features, and functions of
  buildings that define and shape the public realm.
• Public Space/Street Standards. Specifications for
  the elements within the public realm (e.g.,
  sidewalks, travel lanes, street trees, street
  furniture, etc.).
• Administration. A clearly defined application and
  project review process.
• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use
  of technical terms.

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Streets Standards
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Form-Based codes include the following elements

• Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated
  area designating the locations where different
  building form standards apply, based on clear
  community intentions regarding the physical
  character of the area being coded.
• Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling
  the configuration, features, and functions of
  buildings that define and shape the public realm.
• Public Space/Street Standards. Specifications for
  the elements within the public realm (e.g.,
  sidewalks, travel lanes, street trees, street
  furniture, etc.).
• Administration. A clearly defined application and
  project review process.
• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use
  of technical terms.

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Form-Based codes include the following elements

• Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated
  area designating the locations where different
  building form standards apply, based on clear
  community intentions regarding the physical
  character of the area being coded.
• Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling
  the configuration, features, and functions of
  buildings that define and shape the public realm.
• Public Space/Street Standards. Specifications for
  the elements within the public realm (e.g.,
  sidewalks, travel lanes, street trees, street
  furniture, etc.).
• Administration. A clearly defined application and
  project review process.
• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use
  of technical terms.

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Advantages to Form-Based Codes(Peter Katz,
President, form-Based Codes institute)

• Because they are prescriptive (they state what
  you want), rather than proscriptive (what you
  don't want), form-based codes (FBCs) can achieve
  a more predictable physical result. The elements
  controlled by FBCs are those that are most
  important to the shaping of a high quality built
  environment.

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Advantages to Form-Based Codes

• FBCs encourage public participation because they
  allow citizens to see what will happen
  where-leading to a higher comfort level about
  greater density, for instance.

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Advantages to Form-Based Codes

• Because they can regulate development at the
  scale of an individual building or lot, FBCs
  encourage independent development by multiple
  property owners. This obviates the need for large
  land assemblies and the mega-projects that are
  frequently proposed for such parcels.

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Advantages to Form-Based Codes

• FBCs work well in established communities because
  they effectively define and codify a
  neighborhood's existing "DNA." Vernacular
  building types can be easily replicated,
  promoting infill that is compatible with
  surrounding structures.

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Advantages to Form-Based Codes

• Non-professionals find FBCs easier to use than
  conventional zoning documents because they are
  much shorter, more concise, and organized for
  visual access and readability. This feature makes
  it easier for non-planners to determine whether
  compliance has been achieved.

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Advantages to Form-Based Codes

• FBCs eliminate the need for design guidelines,
  which are difficult to apply consistently, offer
  too much room for subjective interpretation, and
  can be difficult to enforce. They also require
  less oversight by discretionary review bodies,
  fostering a less politicized planning process
  that could deliver huge savings in time and money
  and reduce the risk of takings challenges.

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Advantages to Form-Based Codes

• FBCs may prove to be more enforceable than design
  guidelines.
• The stated purpose of FBCs is the shaping of a
  high quality public realm, a presumed public good
  that promotes healthy civic interaction. For that
  reason compliance with the codes can be enforced,
  not on the basis of aesthetics but because a
  failure to comply would diminish the good that is
  sought.

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Disadvantages of Form-Based Codes

• Require a greater effort to develop and enact
• Require skilled professionals to administer
• Dont always address problems related to use

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The Challenge

• Many of the cities of the San Joaquin Valley are
  small under 25,000 population with limited
  resources
• There is a real shortage of professional planners
  in the valley to carry out the implementation of
  the Blueprint