Form-based codes similar to conservation districts

[Limabean]

Aren't the recently approved form-based codes for the Pearl District similar to conservation districts requested by the older neighborhoods?

Why can't we have a pilot project for older neighborhoods?

[JoeMommaBlake]

My guess is that form based codes as a beta is a nice fit in the Pearl because it is a "blank slate" at this point and even more so because of its commercial buildings. When you talk about "older neighborhoods," I assume you're referring to the residential construction in those neighborhoods. The form based codes in the pearl target the proposed commercial corridor down 6th street, not just the residential construction in the neighborhood.

The mostly undeveloped pearl gives us a way to study the effects of form based coding from the very beginning of the development process.

Putting them into effect on Cherry street, for example, wouldn't do as much at this point, as the 15th street commercial corridor is already established.

It will be nice to see the positive effects that form based codes have on the development of the pearl district. Should developers have a positive experience with them, and should the neighborhood experience pronounced growth and revitalization, we'll know that form based codes played a noteworthy part.

[carltonplace]

Mr (or Ms) Bean, the two are similar in ideal, but their use is actually very different.

Conservation Districts or "overlays" are designed to keep an area intact, basically a replacement for neighborhood covenants that have expired over time. The idea is that residents of a particular area can choose from a menu of development options like height, setback, footprint etcetera to inform potential developers what they would like new construction to look like. Normally used to preserve the exsisting character of an area so that new buildings (either infill in empty lots or replacement after tear down) fit with what is already there. Imagine a neighborhood filled with 2 story English Tudor four square homes wanting new construction to be in the same shape and size (if not style) of existing homes instead of seeing new 4 story 10 room home built next door in the same size lot. The hope is that it will slow down the destruction of existing structures and replacement with McMansion encroachment.

Form or Use based codes are a throw back from existing zoning codes that prefer the automobile (lots of up front parking)to the building of areas that favor style over use (reusable buildings...could be a retail store one year or an office later on). Basically creating an area where there is a predictable form to all of the buildings in the area with priority on physical form and presentation to the public eye. We'd see these used mostly in newer developments or reconstruction of depressed commercial areas, hopefully bringing mixed uses (combined residential and retail)and an urban feeling where the car is not needed or wanted to get from structure to structure thanks to pleasing design.

Appologies to the more adept at explaining this (like the esteemed pmcalk or pfox).

[Limabean]

SO if the city is willing to allow this pilot study of form-based codes, why can't the older neighborhoods have a pilot study of conservation districts?