Chapter 18.94 - Residential Subdivision Design Guidelines

Sections:

18.94.010 - Purpose of Chapter
18.94.020 - Applicability
18.94.030 - Development Context and Continuity
18.94.040 - Project Site Planning
18.94.050 - Energy Conservation and Solar Orientation
18.94.060 - Pedestrian and Vehicular Circulation

18.94.010 - Purpose of Chapter

This Chapter provides residential design guidelines to assist project designers and property owners in understanding and implementing the Town’s goals for attaining high quality residential development and for preserving the small town character of its new neighborhoods. These guidelines are not intended to promote one type of development over another. Their primary objective is to encourage well designed residential neighborhoods which:

A. Mitigate the dominance of the automobile;

B. Promote pedestrian activity;

C. Provide community open space; and

D. Protect significant features of the natural environment.

18.94.020 - Applicability

A. The provisions of this Chapter apply to all tentative maps for residential projects.

B. The review authority may exercise discretion in applying these guidelines to specific projects as not all design criteria may be workable or appropriate for each project. In some circumstances, a guideline may be relaxed in order to accomplish another, more important guideline. The overall objective is to ensure that the intent and spirit of the design guidelines are followed, and to attain the best possible design with reason.

18.94.030 - Development Context and Continuity

The following guidelines address the "edges" of new residential projects, that is, how a new residential development should relate to its surroundings.

A. Develop "neighborhoods". New patterns of development should ensure that:

1. They do not significantly change the character of established neighborhoods;

2. Groups of new projects together create true neighborhoods, not isolated compounds; and

3. Features of the natural landscape are preserved.

B. Continuous streets. New residential subdivisions should align public streets with those of adjacent developments, avoiding the tendency to become enclaves apart from the rest of the community. Public streets should be planned to be continuous through adjacent residential developments, where permitted by terrain and other natural features, to weave the community together and simplify traffic circulation patterns. Through traffic should be accommodated in a manner that discourages the use of neighborhood roadways, especially local streets.

C. Relate to open space. New residential developments should be located adjacent to parks or other public or private open spaces (e.g., creeks, riparian areas), and should provide maximum visibility to these areas. (See Figure 5-1, Relating Development to Open Space)

D. Frontage roads. Where a project adjoins a public park or open space, frontage roads are a good means of providing visibility and public access to the open space while at the same time providing separation of residences from the open space. (See Figure 5-2, Use of Frontage Roads)

E. Fences.

1. Fences along ridges should be of "open" construction to allow for protection of scenic views.

2. Fencing adjacent to open space areas should be of a wood-rail type. Fencing should have a maximum height of six feet, with horizontal rails or open wire sufficiently spaced to restrict trespassing and to provide security, but to allow for animal movement (deer, etc.) across these areas. (See Figure 5-3, Appropriate Fencing)

F. Gated neighborhoods. Gated neighborhoods isolate parts of the community from others, and are strongly discouraged.

18.94.040 - Project Site Planning

The following guidelines relate to the internal organization of residential subdivisions. The intent of these guidelines is to ensure that the relationships between housing units and to other on-site uses are attractive and create visual variety along project streets.

A. New streets should connect with adjacent existing streets to form a continuous neighborhood network.

B. Natural amenities (e.g., views, mature trees, creeks, riparian vegetation, and similar features) should be preserved and incorporated into proposed projects to the greatest extent feasible. See Chapter 18.36 (Hillside Development Standards). (See Figure 5-4, Incorporating Natural Amenities)

C. Site design should not change natural drainage patterns. Site grading should be sensitive to existing landforms and topography so that the natural setting may be preserved to the greatest extent possible. When modifications are necessary, surface drainage with appropriate retention facilities is preferred to underground systems.

D. Subdivisions for detached single-family homes should be designed with varied front yard setbacks. Long monotonous rows of homes set at the same setback are strongly discouraged. (See Figure 5-5, Varied Entry Setbacks)

E. Single-family parcels should avoid a patterned "cookie cutter" look by employing a variety of lot sizes, widths, and shapes, whenever possible, except where this pattern has already been established in the neighborhood. (See Figure 5-6, Varied Parcel Design)

F. Existing healthy mature trees should be preserved and incorporated into project landscaping to the greatest extent feasible.

G. Development on sloping sites should follow the natural contours of the land. Stepped building pads, and larger setbacks should be used to preserve the general shape of natural land forms and to minimize grade differentials with adjacent streets and with adjoining properties. See Chapter 18.36 (Hillside Development Standards). (See Figure 5-7, Design Sensitive to Terrain)

H. Snow storage areas should be incorporated into subdivision site design. Snow storage from streets onto private property is not allowed unless snow storage easements are established. Provisions should be included so that sidewalks are not covered with snow by snow plowing operations.

I. Curb-adjacent sidewalks create an undesirable urban appearance and are strongly discouraged. Detached sidewalks or pedestrian paths separated from the road with variable-width parkways are preferred.

J. New roads and roadway improvements should be located, constructed, and maintained in a manner that prevents adverse impacts to water quality and significant biological, scenic, and historic resources.

18.94.050 - Energy Conservation and Solar Orientation

The consideration of passive solar energy techniques in subdivision design is strongly encouraged, where not in conflict with the objective of preserving the natural features of the site.

A. Street orientation. Streets that run generally east and west are encouraged because they increase the likelihood and desirability of houses sited with solar access to the south. South-wall glass is important to providing maximum passive solar heating. Where streets do run primarily east and west, solar access can still be provided by creative lot configuration and siting of units on the lots. (See Figure 5.8, Solar Orientation of Parcels)

B. Setbacks. Placing a house near the north boundary of its lot allows a major portion of the open space to the south of each unit to be controlled by the owner of the house rather than by an adjacent neighbor. Flexibility in setback requirements may be considered to achieve adequate solar orientation when other aspects of the project are also designed to incorporate passive heating and cooling techniques. (See Figure 5-9, Setbacks for Solar Access)

C. Siting. In general, houses should be sited so that south-facing glass is maximized, east- and west-facing glass is minimized. Units attached in preferred east-west directions should not be staggered so as to block south glass collector surfaces. Also, units should not be sited closer to northern units than solar access angles will allow. (See Figure 5-10, South Facing Glass)

D. Compact design. Minimize heat loss by reducing the area of exterior wall and roof surfaces. Use a compact design, (i.e., a two-story house), rather than have the same amount of floor space spread out on a single story.

E. Roof pitch and color. In a snow country climate, the need for heating is greater than the need for cooling. Dark colored rooftops, if steep enough, can absorb solar energy and can add some of this heat to the interior of the structure.

18.94.060 - Pedestrian and Vehicular Circulation

In an effort to avoid residential subdivisions in Truckee having a typical urban or suburban appearance, following design alternatives may be considered.

A. Gravel pedestrian ways. Where it is determined that traffic volumes are light, compacted gravel pedestrian ways may be incorporated for pedestrian circulation. Gravel walks should be a minimum of six-feet wide and be designed to drain properly.

B. Reduced centerline radius. To reduce vehicle speeds when rounding curves on neighborhood streets, short radius curves should be incorporated into the project design where possible with minimum and maximum radii established by the Town Engineer and Public Improvements and Engineering Standards.

C. Fewer cul-de-sacs. Cul-de-sacs interrupt the pattern of connecting streets, thereby decreasing accessibility between adjacent neighborhoods. Therefore, cul-de-sacs are usually discouraged. Exceptions could be considered if the connections degraded an existing pine grove, stream, or marsh, or if the connection created a shortcut attracting significant through traffic.