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Preservation of Character, By Code
One understandable concern residents have when it comes to the SmartCode is exactly how it impacts their current neighborhoods and what they can expect in terms of future development. A SmartCode visual known as the Regulating Plan provides the answers.
A Regulating Plan is a zoning map that identifies what are called the "Transect Zones" applicable to any given area. The Transect is a broad overview of the "human habitat" with division into six zones:
T1: Undeveloped natural condition
T2: Rural agriculture
T3: Sub-urban
T4: General town neighborhoods
T5: Main Street/Town Center
T6: Downtown core
The SmartCode provides the rules for each transect zone, addressing appropriate form, density and use, and providing predictability for future growth. If your street falls under a T3 designation, the SmartCode would allow infill development of comparable neighborhood character. With its regulation of form, which conventional zoning fails to do, the SmartCode is more inclined to prevent development that neighbors might describe as something that "just doesn't fit."
Instead, the built form people are familiar with is preserved and perpetuated.
A Possible Future for Spokane Street
In completing the City Center plan, Post Falls residents established a compelling vision for Spokane Street south of the Interstate. Now, as the SmartCode is being developed to aid in the plan's implementation, it raises the question: What might this historic stretch of downtown, currently underdeveloped, look like if built out under the new ordinance.
The stretch of street shown below, at its intersection with 3rd Street, is categorized under the code's master regulating plan as T5, which designates a Main Street / Town Center character. Thus, it is the most appropriate environment for mixed-use buildings ranging from two to four stories.
This creates a vibrant area where residential condos or professional office space might be found above ground-floor, independent retail businesses. With street tree plantings and buildings fronting wide sidewalks, the area approximates the comfortable character of an outdoor room.
So, what's the difference between this and the City Center plan before this effort? At that time, the vision said one thing but the zoning asked for something else, making it difficult for developers to build what residents had asked for. With the SmartCode calibrated specifically to the city, the zoning regulations makes it law to build what you - the citizens of Post Falls - want.
Easing the Edge
A general issue with developments in Post Falls and throughout the country occurs where the edge of a development abuts a higher speed road. As thoroughfares have become increasingly fast and congested, developers have moved away from facing them, so the backs of homes butt up against the street, lined by either a fence or wall - making for unfriendly street edges.
One proposed solution is something called a Rosewalk (pictured below) which is a short sidewalk or pathway with four to six houses flanking it that runs perpendicular to the busy road, providing a series of pedestrian openings connecting interior streets with walking, biking, or riding trails which may fall just outside a neighborhood.
In essence, the Rosewalk creates an inhabited wall around the development. With this configuration, the sides of houses line the busy street which adds additional aesthetic benefit to the busy street edges.
A Rosewalk also answers another common issue found in existing subdivisions, which is limited access. This solution falls in line with SmartCode principles to promote connectivity and can even be adapted to existing developments to provide functional non-vehicular connections between the subdivision and a busy street.
Making the City Center Plan Viable
Armed with the vision outlined in the City Center Plan, base maps of the city, on-the-ground observation, and input from city officials and citizens throughout the week, the planning team is now working on calibration of the SmartCode for the city core.
"The current zoning code limits the city's ability to accomplish the vision citizens want," said Russ Preston, one of the planners working for the PlaceMakers team. "We think the vision for the City Center Plan is great. It provides an excellent roadmap to aide us in calibrating the SmartCode so the vision is realized."
The SmartCode allows the vision to be codified with a high level of detail. For example, one goal of the City Center Plan is to improve Centennial Trail Crossing. A recommendation put forth during the charrette is to create a city square at the corner of Spokane Street and Railroad Avenue as shared public space, creating a hub of activity and encouraging use of the trail. Because the SmartCode allows and encourages civic green space in areas of high intensity, the new code serves to facilitate this City Center objective for trail improvement.
Because the SmartCode is a form based code, appearance and character become important components in future growth decisions, allowing for flexible yet defined development practices (which is why the Visual Preference Survey is so important to the process). Within the SmartCode calibration, both the city's character and defined goals can be realized.
Additional examples of planning recommendations specific to the City Center Plan will be available during Monday evening's closing presentation, 5:00-7:00pm.
First Things First: The Sector Plan.
One aspect of SmartCode planning is the desire to look at how zoning decisions fit into a greater regional context. That is, not considering Post Falls in isolation but, instead, considering the surrounding towns and the land that falls in between.
The first step in this process is the development of a Sector Plan, which details the regional development pattern for Post Falls' area of impact. Much of this property lies outside the city lines - and, thus, will not fall under the regulating authority of the Post Falls SmartCode - but it's important to consider its likely future use, in the event annexation becomes an option.
No downzoning exists in this first draft of the Sector Plan, a common concern of property owners in relation to their future development opportunities. All parcels reflect potential increases in development options.
For those on the prairie, outside of Post Falls, the Sector Plan sets the parameters under which property owners could leverage the SmartCode, should annexation occur.
The Green, Green Grass of Home
One thing becoming increasingly clear from both the charrette's multiple public meetings and the growing body of data from the Visual Preference Survey is the desire for not just open space, but open space that is functional, beautiful, managed, and preserving of natural assets.
With that in mind, Russ Preston, a planner with the PlaceMakers design team, is working on an interconnected network of green space that looks at existing neighborhoods from downtown north to Rathdrum, taking into account undeveloped parcels, existing transportation corridors, view corridors to surrounding mountains and prairie lands, existing public spaces, and access points to the river.
"These interconnected green spaces come from a tradition of regional landscape planning that incorporates nature into the city. The Olmstead Green Trail network is probably the most well known and is found in cities like Boston, Louisville, and right down the road in Spokane," said Russ. "It's a connected green space network that crisscrosses the automobile network and allows for hiking trails, bike routes, public parks - places for people to have fun and enjoy the natural beauty. It also suggests how to put in place a shared natural amenity for the region."
In addition to the myriad recreational and aesthetic benefits of such a network, wide-open green spaces to the north are equally important to the ongoing health of the aquifer.
See something you like? Got an idea of your own? Share your thoughts with the team by submitting your information here.
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Planning
