Chapter 8 Urban Design Element (June 20, 2005 Draft) 222 Roswell, GA, Comprehensive Plan 2025 CHAPTER 8 URBAN DESIGN ELEMENT Urban design has been a key public policy concern in Roswell for more than three decades. The architectural design of development within the Historic District has been reviewed and approved by the Historic Preservation Commission (see Chapter 6 of this Comprehensive Plan), formerly established as an Civic Design Commission before the Historic Preservation Act of 1980. In addition, for more than two decades, a Design Review Board has reviewed the architecture, site design, landscaping. Long before the adoption of design guidelines was the “trendy” thing for proactive municipalities to do, Roswell prepared, adopted, and implemented design guidelines for selected areas of the City. Together, these programs of architectural and site design review have helped Roswell to preserve its past, ensure quality development, and guide its future in a way that maintains and enhances its character. An Urban Design Element is not required by State rules for local planning, but given it’s past emphasis on urban design, Roswell prepared and adopted an Urban Design Element in 2000, as a part of its 2020 Comprehensive Plan. In 2000, the need to recognize all adopted design guidelines was the primary concern of the Urban Design Element. Another concern at that time related to the character and design of the City as a whole. Having divided the City into different design districts, there was some concern that the City and its Design Review Board might be losing sight of its character as a whole. Hence the Urban Design Element in the 2020 Comprehensive Plan established Citywide urban design policies. Urban design and the City’s architectural and site design review processes affect the outcome of the City’s development pattern. In many respects, design review offers a “front line” opportunity to implement the City’s visions and Comprehensive Plan policies for encouraging redevelopment, preserving historic resources, conserving natural resources, enhancing the natural environment, and imposing order and compatibility in land use. Urban design also plays an important part in the economic well-being of a community. Urban design extends in important ways into all elements of planning, including historic preservation, land use, transportation, housing, economic development and redevelopment, utilities and community facilities, and the environment. The Urban Design Element is a concerted effort to recognize the positive attributes of the City, to enhance and conserve those attributes, and to improve the built environment where it is less than satisfactory. Urban design involves visualizing alternative forms and then choosing actions that will achieve the best possible results for the City. As the City of Roswell evolves, new and varied planning issues are created. Given the fact that people are more mobile in today's society, there are increased opportunities to choose where to live, work, shop, and spend leisure time. The physical appearance of a community and its amenities weigh heavily on this decision. Addressing urban design issues has remained and continues to be critical to Roswell, as mixed land use policies and redevelopment efforts take shape. Good urban design can help generate a sense of place for the City and make it more of a destination, rather than a place to pass through. Issues such as architectural scale, density, and aesthetic character will continue to be considered to ensure that new development supports and enhances the overall character of the City and its special places and neighborhoods. Urban design principles and recommendations should apply to both the public environment, as expressed through elements such as City buildings, streetscapes, parks, and plazas, and the Chapter 8 Urban Design Element (June 20, 2005 Draft) 223 Roswell, GA, Comprehensive Plan 2025 City's policies and regulations for private development. Research and experience has shown that there is a positive return on investment for quality design features, for both government and property owners. For example, the money a City spends on landscaped roadway medians, sidewalks, and street trees is likely to be amply returned in the form of increased tax revenue resulting from the overall increase in property values that accompanies attractive and desirable urban areas. BUILDING BLOCKS FOR CITY PATTERN The pattern of a City is a combination of its natural and built environments. The pattern of Roswell contributes greatly to its overall appearance. Arguably, it is the appearance of a community that draws people in to live, work and shop. In some ways the pattern is seen in two dimensions as though it were a map; in other ways it has a three-dimensional form. The City’s two-dimensional pattern need not be viewed as a rigid order but, rather, as a sense of balance and compatibility among its residents and businesses. The pattern is made up of the following: WATER, specifically the Chattahoochee River, defines the southern boundary for the City and a part of its recreation and way of life. The river serves as open space, a focus of scenic views, a fragile ecosystem, and even a place of human activity (mostly recreational). The City’s other tributaries, creeks, and streams also form the City’s riparian system that contributes to its natural landscape. RIDGES, which allow the City to be seen and help define neighborhoods and districts. OPEN SPACES AND LANDSCAPED AREAS, whose green patterns enrich the color of the City and help to identify districts and provide places for recreation. STREETS AND ROADWAYS, which connect the built environment and in doing so unify the pattern. When they follow a ridgeline or meander through a valley, streets and roadways can provide vistas of open spaces. The character of their design also influences the character of land use development. Streets and roadways are of many types, each with their own functions and characteristics, and together they make up a system that accommodates the movements of persons and commerce that make up the daily hustle of the City. BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES, which reflect the character of districts and centers for activity, provide reference points for human orientation, and may add to (but can detract from) topography and views. Some buildings and structures, such as City Hall and churches, stand out as single features of community importance. People perceive this pattern from many places and during many activities; from their homes and neighborhoods, from parks, from places of work, from the streets while traveling, and from entranceways and observation points while visiting the City. ELEMENTS COMPRISING THE PATTERN Peter Calthorpe (2003)1 contends that only four elements are needed to design complete regions, cities, and towns. They are: centers, corridors, preserves, and districts. 1 Calthorpe, Peter. 2003. “The Regional City.” In Donald Watson, Alan Plattus, and Robert Shibley, eds., Time Saver Standards for Urban Design (New York: McGraw Hill, 2003). Chapter 8 Urban Design Element (June 20, 2005 Draft) 224 Roswell, GA, Comprehensive Plan 2025 Classifying all areas in terms of these four elements can be difficult. Sometimes, a given area fits into more than one category. For instance, the local historic district was designated in a prior amendment to the Comprehensive Plan as a “center,” since it functions as a center for commerce, government, civic activities, and social functions, yet by definition it is a “district.” Similarly, Parkway Village, has been referred to a “districts” but may be more worthy of the term “corridor.” As another example, the Garrison Hill Design Guidelines could be viewed in terms of a corridor (Marietta Highway, a.k.a., SR 120), a district, and a neighborhood. Another issue with trying to impose a classification scheme for design and character areas is that a given element can itself be further subdivided into character types. Centers and corridors may have further distinguishable features. For instance, Parkway Village has discernable neighborhood “centers” or “villages” within it at Hardscrabble Road and Crabapple Road. After considering what fits best with Roswell’s pattern, the following five elements are proposed to conceptualize the City’s pattern: centers, corridors, districts, preserves, and neighborhoods. This typology adopts Calthorpe’s framework as a visioning strategy but also adds an element absent in his classification scheme – neighborhoods. In proposing this typology of character elements, it is recognized that geographically it can become messy or that there are equally valid alternatives for conceptualizing the elements of pattern in the City. The first two elements – centers and corridors – are consistent with evolving policy of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Development Plan. Including neighborhoods in the typology is consistent with Roswell’s character as a collection of fine neighborhoods which require their own attention (see Chapter 7, Framework for Neighborhood Planning). Centers Centers are local and regional destinations at the neighborhood, village, town, or urban scale. Centers are made up of multiple uses (retail spaces, housing, services, and civic buildings), but they are dominated primarily by retail. Influenced by the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Development Plan, Livable Centers Initiative, and regional reviews of local plans, Roswell re-conceptualized its land use plan in part to recognize activity centers which differ in their size, scale, and function. In addition, there are evolving efforts such as the Holcomb Bridge Road revitalization study which can also be viewed in terms of corridor, district, and neighborhood elements. There are at least five recognizable centers in Roswell: • Roswell Historic District (Activity Center) • Georgia 400 @ East Holcomb Bridge Road Activity Center • SR 9/ Holcomb Bridge Road/Alpharetta Hwy,/Crossville Road (Town Center) • Crabapple Road at Houze Road (Activity Center) Corridors Corridors are connecting elements based on either natural systems or infrastructure and transportation lines. They represent a flow – of water, traffic, or habitat movement.