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| Northampton, MA on the cover |
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A great book on solving sprawl issues—and building commercial districts worth defending—was published by the Conservation Law Foundation in 2002. It has a particular slant towards innovative projects and policies found in New England. The entire book is online and it can be accessed here. Ironically, the book’s cover shows beautiful downtown Northampton, but it was written and published before Northampton's 'onerous' King Street regs were written. Below you will find some of the interesting regulations highlighted in the book. These are going to remake sprawling commercial strip-mall development in other communities. You'll note that some of the new rules in those communities make the King Street regs look pretty watered-down and milque-toast in comparison. Barrington, Rhode Island recently amended its business district-zoning bylaw to prohibit strip development. Barrington had required commercial uses to have a minimum 25-foot front setback, and imposed no maximum front setback. It also allowed parking lots to be located within that setback. To make its business district more pedestrian friendly and compact, Barrington recently adopted a minimum setback of only 3 feet, a maximum setback of 15 feet, and a prohibition against parking lots in front of buildings. Newmarket, New Hampshire has adopted design standards that require buildings to have entrances on the streets they face and that prohibit parking between buildings and the sidewalk. Brunswick, Maine has design standards that require large retailers to have ground floor facades facing public streets, with display windows, entrance areas, and other design features along at least 40% of their horizontal length. Brunswick also requires these stores to have clearly marked pedestrian entranceways and appropriate sidewalks and bicycle amenities and uses the site plan review process to ensure that these standards are implemented. Mashpee Commons, a development in Mashpee, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, is an example of a new New England town center on the site of a former shopping mall. The center has shops, offices, a post office, and housing. Also proposed are six interconnected residential neighborhoods surrounding the center, with a mix of housing types. Approximately 65% of the land will be retained as open space. Middletown, Rhode Island is developing a plan for a new town center, to be built on the site of a 1950s shopping mall. Berlin, Vermont has a plan for a new town center along a strip commercial corridor. It will include small businesses, homes, and public buildings and spaces. In Richmond, Vermont’s “gateway commercial district,” developments are prohibited from placing parking in front of buildings, entrances must be oriented to the highway, and shared parking and access is required among parcels. Anne Arundel County, Maryland requires buildings to be placed close to streets or pedestrian ways, with primary access directed towards streets. Harford County, Maryland’s Edgewood Neighborhood Overlay District requires that buildings be oriented to face the street, with entrances and display windows at street level. In 1998, a two-story, 150,000 square foot Filene’s department store (with a multi-level parking garage) was built in Burlington, Vermont on a vacant urban renewal site. Belfast, Maine limits retail stores to 75,000 square feet. Tolland, Connecticut limits retail stores to 52,000 square feet. This restriction was challenged in court, but upheld. Westford, Massachusetts limits the gross floor area of retail stores to 60,000 square feet. Special permits and site plan reviews are required for buildings between 30,000 and 60,000 square feet. As a result of effective design and site planning standards, residents of Brookline, Massachusetts now have a new two-story Walgreens conveniently located in a commercial area easily accessible to residential neighborhoods. The building was sited directly on the sidewalk – consistent with other stores along the street. Display windows line the facade. The parking lot is on one side of the store, and the developer provided an awning and bench at a nearby bus stop. When faced with a standard one-story building surrounded by parking for a Rite-Aid store in a mixed-use neighborhood, the Burlington, Vermont Planning Commission denied the application. The project was later approved when the applicant agreed to remove two rows of parking between the sidewalk and the building, plant street trees, install a bus shelter and add a bicycle rack by the entrance. Gables and windows were added along the street facade. The Cape Cod Commission reviews retail projects over 10,000 square feet and evaluates their environmental, economic, and aesthetic impacts. The Commission has a regional policy plan that explains how adverse impacts are to be reduced and/or mitigated. Projects that have serious adverse impacts that cannot be sufficiently reduced or mitigated are not approved. |
