2.6.3 Goals and Policies

The city of Surprise has a distinct community identity and visual character.

Promote development that is compatible with city of Surprise’s overall urban form, community character, and environmental setting.
Promote design of public and civic buildings to enhance the identity of an area.
Promote infill development that reflects sensitivity to site, context, and surrounding neighborhoods.
Promote residential development that reinforces Surprise’s character.

The city has a high-quality built environment.

Promote quality architecture and landscape design that contributes to the creation of unique “places” and an active, well-defined, and human-scaled public realm.
Encourage new development to incorporate qualities and characteristics that make the city desirable and memorable including human-scaled streets, open spaces, and varied architectural styles.
Promote building design that is respectful and responsive to the local context, including use of local materials, responsiveness to Surprise’s hot desert climate, and consideration of cultural and historic context.
Ensure that public and private development work together to enhance and create a unique and well-defined identity for Surprise’s various entry gateways.
Promote the preservation of historic sites.

Design is an integral part of village planning.

Promote design that incorporates new and existing developments with a compatible mix of residential, retail, service employment, and open space uses that are consistent with the predominant use and scale of the neighborhood.
Encourage the design and development of neighborhoods that makes them more pedestrian-friendly.
Use regulations, such as setbacks, height limits, floor area ratio (FAR) or floor space index (FSI) and performance standards/conditional use restrictions from the zoning codes, and design guidelines to ensure that appropriate transitions are maintained between centers and corridors.
Promote design guidelines that address the relationship between design and site planning principles that are applicable citywide.
Promote design review process to ensure compatibility of structures through neighborhoods, city centers, village centers, and villages.

The city has diverse, distinct, and well-structured neighborhoods.

Promote the design of complete and well-structured neighborhoods whose physical layout and land use mix promote walking, biking, and transit while reducing vehicle trips.
Preserve, protect, and enhance established neighborhoods by providing sensitive transitions between neighborhoods and adjoining areas.
Require new development, both private and public, to respect and respond to those existing physical characteristics, buildings, streetscapes, open spaces, and urban form that contribute to the overall character and livability of the neighborhood.
Promote development of mixed-use village neighborhood centers that accommodate local-serving commercial, employment, and entertainment uses; provide diverse housing opportunities; and are efficiently served by transit.

The city has well defined “‘Place Making Techniques.”

Promote “street-wall” in which each building comes close to the sidewalk.
Promote building fronts that are permeable.
Promote sensitive transitions in scale between buildings in centers and adjacent traditional neighborhoods.
Promote architecture and planning that complements adjoining uses.

The city has well designed and maintained public spaces to enhance the overall functional and aesthetic quality.

Create ample Public Realm.
Establish a hierarchy of streets throughout the city that promotes:
- Street classification based on type, use, and visual quality.
- Alternative modes of transportation.
- Vehicular access between new and old developments.
- Pedestrian activity connected through creation of interesting nodes and junctions.
Provide assistance to neighborhood groups to develop streetscape improvements.
Create and upgrade streetscape standards, so the design of streets and roads are sensitive to the natural topography and to adjacent neighborhoods and business areas.

Open space and scenic views are well preserved.

Protect views along major streets, gateways, and pedestrian paths to provide a sense of place and orientation.
The design qualities of developments abutting designated scenic corridors are to be compatible with the aesthetic character of the scenic corridor.

The city has well-designed “complete streets” and transit systems.

Encourage a built environment that reduces automobile dependence and promotes more sustainable modes of transportation.
Develop flexible street design standards that provide adequate bicycle and pedestrian safety, emergency vehicle access, and strong aesthetic qualities.
Provide for transitions between neighborhoods along the alignment of alleys or rear lot lines, rather than along street centerlines, in order to maintain consistent scale, form, and character on both sides of public streetscapes.
Require newly developing and redeveloping areas to promote multiple modes of transportation systems.