Right, so I've been doing this continuing ed by reading the NCARB monograph, Cracking the Codes. I really wish I'd had this as a textbook earlier in my career...it's that good.
In one of the sections on various kinds of Rules, there's a case study sidebar on the development guidelines of Reston, Virginia. Now this piqued my interest, because Reston is one of the places that I was always trying to learn about in school for city planning projects, but could never find any useful information. (This was pre-web.) Regardless of the media silence on details, I'd find all these glowing citations about the innovations of city planning happening in Reston. Maddening.
I'm a bit less curious now. Here's a few items on Reston's non-wishlist:
- Rear property lines of attached residential units should be staggered to prevent unbroken lines of fencing.
- Chimneys must be constructed to grade and not appear to be suspended in mid-air.
- Brick facades should be made to 'wrap' the corners of the building; brick or stucco quoins must 'wrap' the width of the quoin detail.
Now granted, that's just three of the seven I've got here, but isn't it odd that they've constructed a 'don't do this' list? I'm not sure there's a better way to say precisely those things, but I do know that they could avoid those 'problems' by expanding the scope of attention addressed by the rule.
For example:
- Provide a matrix of acceptable fencing strategies for various kinds of properties.
- Masonry work or the appearance of masonry shall be given a 'heavy' connotation, and detailed accordingly. This can include (but is not limited to) carrying chimneys to grade, thickening corners at changes to a 'lighter' material, etc.
This sort of language allows a board to exercise a judgement call, which allows aesthetics to grow and change, but still obligates the community to uphold a high design standard, which accomplishes the usually desired effect of improving property values. When I served on our city's Community Redevelopment Agency board of commissioners, I struggled to get this sort of language written into our ordinances all the time. I wasn't very successful.
It'd probably be a shorter code, too. Seaside's code is a POSTER. One I wish I had a copy of, as it's mostly a map and a graphic matrix.
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