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General Plan 2030 Public Input Site > 2.0 Development > 2.6 Community Design Element > 2.6.1.a Principles of Community Design Discussion

2.6.1.a Principles of Community Design Discussion

1. Creating Community Identity and Cultural Character
2. Ability to Attract Residents and Visitors
3. Development of Distinctive Neighborhoods
1. 3.1. Residential Neighborhoods
2. 3.2. Commercial/Employment Districts
3. 3.3. Historical Presence
  1. 3.3.1. Neighborhood Design
  2. 3.3.2. Housing
4. Creating Walkable Communities
1. 4.1. Qualities of Walkable Communities
5. Applying Sound Environmental Design Techniques
1. 5.1. Site Planning
2. 5.2. Green Building Design

The purpose of the community design element is to promote quality design for buildings, structures, paths, districts, nodes, landmarks, natural features, and significant landscaping.

The visual quality of the physical elements and spaces that shape the city is what the community design element is about. For purposes of this element, community design is the "art" of enhancing the vitality, meaning, form, and function of the public and private realms.

The community design element establishes goals, objectives, and policies aimed at expressing the city’s general parameters for quality design and development.

The key principles for establishing community design are:

Creating Community Identity/Cultural Character.
Ability to Attract Residents and Visitors.
Development of Distinctive Neighborhoods.
Creating Walkable Communities.
Applying Sound Environmental Design Techniques.

Creating Community Identity and Cultural Character

The city of Surprise has a unique character that is defined by strong neighborhoods and the people who live here. The distinctive appearance of business and residential neighbor-hoods is important in determining how we feel about our community. A strong, active neighborhood that represents a broad cross section of residents and businesses is an important ingredient for long-term neighborhood stability.

Community identity is established through:

Promoting visually appealing architecture and high quality developments that promote a distinctive identity for the city.
A specific design palette that enhances the identity of a neighborhood, a village, and the city as a whole.
Developing a unified streetscape design that ties together the various buildings that will eventually comprise a village.
Maintaining and enhancing Surprise’s sense of place, placing particular emphasis on its unique neighborhoods and public gathering spaces such as downtown and village centers.
Fostering walkability and connections between existing and planned neighborhoods, with emphasis on infill opportunity sites along major streets.
Designing in harmony with site and context to protect and accentuate Surprise’s environmental assets.
Building upon an identity through traditional and non-traditional design concepts.
Coordination between developments to create an urban form with consistent design pattern.
A positive integration of the built and natural environment within a neighborhood.

Ability to Attract Residents and Visitors

Development of art and cultural venues would generate economic growth while improving the character of the neighborhood.. Art and cultural venues can strengthen the quality of life within the community for people of all ages by providing social gathering, entertainment, and educational opportunities. In turn, this will attract visitors from around the region.

Issues include:

Developing a wide mix of uses and choices in key commercial, business, and educational establishments is an important factor in attracting residents and transient population alike.
Development of retail and commercial establishments that include local and distinctive enterprises is vital in city's ability to attract tourism and other visitors.
Promoting retail and commercial developments that are in harmony with the character and scale of the current pattern of development is very important for the continuation of the city's ability to attract tourism and other visitors.
Provision for different entertainment venues including arts and cultural activity centers, is a key factor in attracting residents and visitors.

Development of Distinctive Neighborhoods

Residential Neighborhoods

Creating and maintaining quality neighborhoods is a key initiative of community design. Existing neighborhoods should be maintained and improved. New neighborhoods should be developed to be in harmony with the existing developments in form and scale.

Design concepts in residential areas are intended to create a “sense of place” in new neighborhoods by not only recognizing and strengthening the fundamental elements of traditional neighborhoods but also utilizing concepts such as new urbanism. Building blocks included a mix of housing types (single family detached homes, townhouses, duplexes, condos, and apartments), parks, and community facilities organized around a neighborhood focal point. The goal is to create residential neighborhoods that are aesthetically pleasing.

Issues include:

Creating a mix of housing types and styles that will allow new neighborhoods to develop a unique identity through design.
Developing a sense of neighborhood identity through design elements and neighborhood focal points, such as
Commercial areas, schools, parks, community centers, or a combination of these elements.
Improving safety and opportunities for social interaction through the creation of human-scaled public spaces on streets and in parks and plazas.
Promoting proper connectivity between communities to improve social interaction.

Commercial/Employment Districts

Community design policies for professional office, retail, commercial, business park, and industrial areas can provide an attractive environment for those who work and live in Surprise. The architecture of such buildings should be articulated to create diversity in form and pallet.

Issues include:

Located primarily along major arterials, these areas have less relationship with the street than community or neighborhood commercial areas.
Having a wide array of mixed-uses in commercial and employment districts with a distinctive and unique design pallet is vital in retaining the economic base in Surprise as well as important in attracting potential work force to city.
The architecture of office and industrial buildings should be designed to minimize “boxy” appearance.
Creating employment and industrial campuses with unique character and style.
Internal pedestrian pathways should provide a safe and well-connected walking environment.
Design of commercial and industrial centers should be pedestrian scale with active nodes, so people can feel comfortable and will tend to congregate in these areas.
Require sufficient buffering from adjacent residential neighborhoods.
Future opportunities may be to re-orient development and provide for new uses which can more fully contribute to the vitality, attractiveness, and overall viability of the area.
New development should reflect a positive orientation to the street, with the active ground floor uses and parking areas screened from view.

Historical Presence

Arizona has a rich legacy of early agriculturally based towns that has fostered a variety of architectural styles.

Neighborhood Design

The history of Surprise is defined by agriculture, mining, homesteading activities, and bears a strong correlation to the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railroad, built in the 1890s. Other unincorporated areas like Circle City, Morristown, Wittmann, and Waddell have been involved in mining, homesteading and agriculture.

One of the principal characters of the traditional neighborhoods seen throughout the communities of the Surprise Planning Area is compact development of neighborhoods with homes, streets, and parks complemented by lush planting and turf. Through this kind of compact development, native desert landscapes are maintained on the streetscapes surrounding a development.

Housing

The design of early homes in the valley communities was directly affected by the climate and imported influences of the pattern books from Midwest and East coast. Architectural styles including Spanish, Bungalow, Cottage, Territorial Ranch, Monterey, Traditional, and Craftsman appropriate to the region were developed to address the needs and lifestyles of

the residents and support the community theme as a traditional town development.

Taking a clue from the past and the context of agricultural towns, there is a need for developments that embrace diversity in architectural style.. In keeping with the overall community theme, the homes must be of high quality and contribute positively to the character of the immediate and surrounding community. Overall the design concept should blend the chosen traditional architectural styles with environmental responsiveness to the climatic conditions of the city of Surprise.

Of the old settlements in the Surprise Planning Area, the Original Townsite and Circle City exhibit dispersed ethnic and cultural references to their origins in terms of housing styles and character. The styles chosen in these settlements are based upon regional influences and local materials. The styles, when seen collectively, produce a collection of neighborhoods that are both familiar and unique. The Original Townsite has a significant presence of Adobe style housing that is adaptable to the hot, dry, harsh climate of the valley. This housing style is accentuated with porches and patios that enhance the sense of neighborhood in that area. The building masonry is primarily brick, integral colored blocks, and slump blocks that take into account climatic conditions as well as the context and history of the Original Townsite.

Surprise can embrace this character of design in response to the climatic conditions for new as well as redevelopment projects and make a mark in comparison to other valley cities.

Creating Walkable Communities

Walkability is the cornerstone and a key to an urban area's efficient ground transportation. Walkable communities put urban environments back on a scale for sustainability of resources (both natural and economic) and lead to more social interaction, physical fitness, and diminished crime and other social problems. Walkable communities are more livable communities and lead to whole, happy, healthy lives for the people who live in them.

Acceptable walking distances are dependent on trip purpose, total travel time related to this purpose, health of the pedestrian, walking environment, perceived safety, and security of the walking route, and in some instances, economic factors. Table 2.6A shows the acceptable walking distances and duration for various uses.

Purpose of Trip	Distance (miles)	Duration (minutes)
To or from work	0.74	10.86
Work-related business	0.5	9.1
Other family or personal business	0.45	9.06
School/church	0.55	10.89
Doctor/dentist	0.55	10.89
Vacation	1.41	18.96
Visit friends or relatives	0.47	9.07
Other social/recreation	0.64	12.74
Other	0.79	12.37

Table 2.6A - Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (Washington, DC, 1997).

Community design aims to promote a well organized sidewalk, street and land-use system consistent with the scale and function of the surrounding neighborhoods. The sidewalk and street system should link points of interest and activity, provide clear lines of sight to those points, include simple instructive signage, and be accessible to a wide range of people, including people with disabilities.

Qualities of Walkable Communities

A neighborhood center (providing retail and office uses) is located within 5 minutes walking distance, roughly a one-quarter mile radius for the majority of residents in the neighborhood.
The streets are laid out in well-connected patterns, at a pedestrian scale, so that there are alternative automobile and pedestrian routes to every destination.
The streets are treated as complex public spaces, containing traffic and parking. The streets are an integral part of the “public realm,” including trees, sidewalks, and the buildings that front on them.
The streets are relatively narrow, in order to discourage high-speed automobile traffic. Streetscapes should be
Well defined by buildings and trees along them.
In addition to streets, walkable communities include squares that form public commons, around which are larger shops and offices, as well as apartments.
A complete system of interconnected streets, pedestrian walkways, and multiple routes to increase pedestrian travel.
Connections between popular origins and destinations are provided between dead-end streets or cul-de-sacs, or as shortcuts through open spaces.
Walkways have secured environments for pedestrians.
Transit facilities are located adjacent to work, residential areas, shopping, and recreational facilities to encourage pedestrian trips.
Secure, attractive, and active spaces are provided as focal points for the community, where people can gather and interact (e.g., pedestrian pocket parks and plazas).
Important cultural, historic, and architectural resources are preserved to help strengthen the community’s heritage and provide attractive environments and scenic views to encourage pedestrian use.
Furnishings, such as benches, restrooms, drinking fountains, artwork, architectural fountains (especially for play!), and other similar elements are provided to create more attractive and functional environments for pedestrians.

Applying Sound Environmental Design Techniques

Site Planning

Sustainable site planning practices help to reduce the environmental footprint of buildings, reduce heat, and energy usage. Development impacts are mitigated through arrangements of buildings, roads, parking areas, open areas, and other site features. Through proper orientation of buildings and other measures, sustainable site design helps to reduce building maintenance costs and protect the environment.

Benefits of sustainable site planning practices include:

Alleviating the impact of the construction process, landscaping, and building exterior, on the ecosystem and the region.
Reducing maintenance costs of building operation.
Promoting energy conservation.
Reducing disturbance of habitats and water systems, and help revitalize urban areas.
Mitigating the urban heat island effect.
Encouraging redevelopment of environmentally degraded sites and steering new development toward existing transportation corridors and infrastructure.
Promoting biodiversity.

Some of the sustainable site planning practices includes:

Adopting green standards for neighborhoods under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Design (LEED-ND) or other standards that ensure a high level of energy efficiency in new development.
Minimizing site disturbance through proper grading. Allowable slope percentages for construction are:
- 0-2%-Most developable.
- 2-8%-Easily accommodates most categories of development.
- 8-16%-Some development restrictions; upper limits for roads and walks.
- 16-24%-Significant restrictions to most development.
  
  When developments occur on slopes greater than 16%, the following planning and design models should be followed:
  
  1. Integrate a significant amount of open space for preservation.
  
  2. Discourage traditional large lot subdivisions that blanket natural slope conditions with no accessible open space.
  
  3. Encourage cluster design scenarios that strategically group development in specific locations.
  
  4. Establish an extensive trail system that provides diverse opportunities for walking and hiking.
  5. Encourage creative mixed-use slope design techniques that limit expansive view shed disturbance.
- 24%+-Generally restricted for development.

Note: For irregular ‘flat’ land areas that may have slope anomalies such as stacked rock/boulders, small mounds, crevices, and/or non-jurisdictional washes, the predominant slope characteristics can be assumed for a parcel in its entirety based on the above slope categories.

Avoiding development of previously undeveloped land, using instead surface parking lots and infill sites.
Landscaping to control erosion, reduce heat islands (shade trees, light colored materials), and minimize habitat disturbance.
Using alternative transportation facilities (pedestrian, bicycle, carpools, shuttles, public transit).
Siting buildings efficiently (orientation to wind, sun, natural topography).
Encouraging mixed land use (trip reduction, walk to work, errands, day care, etc.).

Green Building Design

Green building design also referred to as sustainable or high performance design is part of a strong and increasing trend over the last few years, changing and influencing commercial architecture and construction.

Green building is a term used to describe a structure that is designed, built, renovated, or reused in a sustainable and resource-efficient manner. It encompasses energy efficiency design, water conservation, indoor environmental quality, use of recycled and renewable materials, and construction waste reduction. The result is a more sustainable building that enhances the health and productivity of its occupants while saving resources and money.

For development projects that perform well in terms of smart growth, new urbanism and green building ratings, the entire
project may be certified green under (LEED-ND). Projects may constitute whole neighborhoods, fractions of neighborhoods, or multiple neighborhoods. Smaller infill projects that are single use but complement existing neighboring uses should be able to earn such certifications.

The financial benefits of green design include:

Lower energy usage, waste disposal, and water costs.
Lower environmental and emission costs.
Lower operations and maintenance costs.
Savings from increased productivity and health of workers/occupants of the buildings.

Green design involves more than community design or aesthetics. It has a direct impact on environmental resources and the quality of life of current and future Surprise residents.