AGENDA ITEM #: 2.
DATE: November 6, 2024
CAR #: 2040
CASE #: N/A |
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Planning & Zoning Commission ACTION REPORT
| SUBJECT: |
DESIGN GUIDELINES MANUAL UPDATE
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| STAFF PRESENTER(S): |
Christian M. Williams, Planning Manager and Guadalupe Ortiz-Cortez, Senior Planner |
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| OTHER PRESENTER(S): |
| Matthew Klyszeiko, Michael Baker International (Design Guidelines Consultant) |
| SUMMARY: |
| The Planning and Zoning Commission will receive a comprehensive update on the City of Goodyear’s Design Guidelines Manual. |
| RECOMMENDATION: |
| Recommend approval of the City’s Design Guidelines Manual to City Council. (Christian Williams, Planning Manager and Guadalupe Ortiz Cortez, Senior Planner) |
| FISCAL IMPACT: |
| There is no direct budget impact associated with this update. Funding for tasks associated with the Design Guidelines Manual update have been approved for this fiscal year. |
| BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS ACTIONS: |
Pursuant to Zoning Ordinance 1-4-1, the Design Guidelines Manual provides developers, architects and project applicants with specific guidelines, criteria, and considerations for developing projects in a manner which furthers the City of Goodyear’s development as a high-quality and vibrant community. Additionally, the Design Guidelines Manual assists the designer in achieving a quality design, aids City staff during the review process for new development, including overall development layout and site-specific plans to ensure the result is a quality design which will enhance the proposed development and ensure compatibility with adjacent land uses. The Design Guidelines Manual helps achieve the goal to create an attractive, livable, and safe city. The current Design Guidelines Manual was approved by City Council on June 11, 2014, and revisions were approved on September 16, 2020. The proposed Design Guidelines Manual update creates a framework for design that carries out the community’s vision, as articulated in the General Plan, for high quality building design, while maintaining flexibility with its requirements, to allow for creativity and innovation in design and planning.
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| STAFF ANALYSIS |
Staff and Michael Baker International, the city’s consultant, began working on the Design Guidelines Manual update in May 2023. The process began with City Council interviews, followed by creating a memorandum on the existing conditions and providing for best practices. The process of updating the Design Guidelines Manual included two rounds of community outreach and each round encompassed a community workshop and an online survey. A draft of the Design Guidelines Manual was available for public comment on the city’s website. Additional outreach efforts included three virtual developer forums with each forum focused on a specific topic that covered the manual’s design philosophy and proposed updates. Notices of the Design Guidelines Manual update and invitations to join the virtual developer forums were sent to the city’s development forum list serv. The current draft of the Design Guidelines Manual took into consideration resident, developer, and City Council feedback.
The proposed Design Guidelines Manual was presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission on October 16, 2024, and feedback was not provided at the meeting. The proposed Design Guidelines Manual was presented to City Council on October 21, 2024. After the staff presentation, the City Council requested stronger language on water conservation and water features, additional guidelines on public art for all development types, provisions for access and circulation and ingress/egress in shopping centers, consistent guidelines for landscape throughout the document including stronger language on shade and heat mitigation as well consideration for future city areas that can benefit from enhanced landscape. Additionally, City Council requested language on building embellishments, including the incorporation of stone in multi-family developments. The City Council also expressed the significance for the Design Guidelines Manual to maintain flexibility to address changing times.
To address City Council’s feedback, staff, and the consultant amended the Design Objectives to add that site and building design strategies utilize “water stewardship”, clarified when water features are appropriate and used consistent language throughout the document when referring to water conservation, landscaping, and public art. Chapter 7, Area Specific guidelines, was amended to provide staff the ability to identify corridors in the city that will benefit from additional landscape enhancement. Chapter 3 Residential guidelines, including the subsection 3.4 Specific Multi-Family Use Type Guidelines, include design guidelines that require massing and the types of materials used for exterior elevations, such as the provision of stone and other accent materials that are durable and relate a sense of quality and permanence. To provide flexibility for innovative development and product design, a process was created to provide developers the ability to propose alternative designs to design guidelines while meeting the intent of Design Guidelines Manual’s Design Objectives and Principles.
Staff believes the design guidelines revisions made address Council’s feedback and furthers the City’s goal to attract high quality design to the City of Goodyear. |
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