At last week’s Springfield City Council meeting, the first of three approvals for a one-year, interim State Street overlay zoning district (Article XIV-G) passed, eight to one, with City Councilor Bud Williams voting against.

Last I knew, the city only has two existing overlay districts: one at the X in Forest Park, and one at Indian Orchard’s Main Street. Overlay districts primarily strengthen standards for a particular corridor, shaping and focusing commercial or retail use and appearance. Long-term plans for State Street address some related concerns about function and appearance with improved traffic flow changes and landscaping, among other tweaks; however, those plans don’t address zoning.

An article in today’s Republican cites Williams as voting against the measure “because business owners in the Mason Square part of State Street told him they felt excluded in the process. He will hold a committee meeting so they can air their views, he said.” More from the article:

Councilor Bruce W. Stebbins said last night he expects the second approval, and possibly the third, as well, will be voted on July 16. The measure would last until June 30, 2008. Special permits for such businesses as used-car dealerships would be put on hold.

Other proposals would have to go through an administrative site-plan review. In that evaluation, planners, building code officers and others would ensure that projects would be close to the street instead of set back behind a fence or parking lot. The review also would ensure a large percentage of a building’s facade would be glass instead of blank walls, to encourage an urban boulevard feeling.

Planning officials said the temporary measure is needed because a rewriting of the city zoning code, which will include such development standards, is taking longer than planned.

David Panagore, the city’s chief development officer, told me, “The [June 25] City Council meeting was very well-attended. A couple of local businesses along State Street appeared: one of the non-profits, and one of the local businesses, concerned about the impact and the added cost. Generally, there was a sense from the neighborhoods of strong support about quality urban design, about establishing minimum standards in the city. There was concern, though, regarding the impact on the existing businesses there, along the corridor.”

“What is the impact?” I asked.

“Well,” Panagore, replied, “the impact for existing businesses, and existing uses, is… there isn’t one.” The impact, he said, is only for new construction.

“The zoning ordinance establishes what’s called a set-forward, as opposed to a set-back,” he continued. “It maintains the hardened street edge, so at most, you can have a ten-foot set-back. It also requires glass along the street edge so you don’t have blank business walls. It requires side-set parking. Those are the principal requirements.”

The ordinance also requires site-plan review, Panagore said. Such review would be internal, completed by technical staff, who would be empowered to ensure certain threshold criteria are met.

“[The ordinance] preserves the sense of place,” Panagore added. “When you think of places that we aren’t crazy about, you think of these big dead mall parking lots: out on Boston Road, say, you’re standing in the middle of the Wal-Mart parking lot… no one stands out there and says, ‘This is what I want Springfield to look like.’ Instead, you step into the downtown, you step into Mason Square, and you say, ‘This is the way I’d like the buildings to be.’ Along State Street, you’d also say, ‘I’d like more retail. I’d like more businesses.’”

The interim overlay district, he said, “freezes” the more intensive uses that are more car-based—drive-throughs and used auto lots, for example—until next summer, and wouldn’t be allowed, while the city sorts out plans for permanent zoning changes. “Maybe there’s a section of State Street that should have used cars on it,” he said. “We want to promote it as a district. But we need to be thoughtful as a community. Our zoning revisions are going to be coming out in November, we expect, at the latest. The citizen advisory committee [giving input on the proposed draft changes]—about 15 people—has been meeting on a bi-weekly basis for about a year. [We want to] be able to come out with a vision that everybody can then work with and look at later this year. While that’s happening, we don’t want to make irrevocable decisions. We don’t want things to happen on State Street that we wish we could pull back. This would hold it back, while at the same time, what does occur would be promoted along a certain line, promoting urban design: glass on the front, side-set parking, and so on.”

The ordinance is temporary, Panagore reiterated, calling it an experiment. “It’s an attempt to be able to provide as well site-plan review, which happens in all but nine towns in western Massachusetts. The other towns [without it] are of the size of Goshen, Cummington—very small towns. Any of the larger, more significant towns all protect and preserve their public realm, what is visible from the street. Springfield would just be coming on board with a practice that’s been around for 30, 40 years.” Below is the text of the proposed ordinance.

STATE STREET INTERIM OVERLAY DISTRICT

Section A-1200. Purpose and Findings

1. Purpose: This Section is adopted as an interim measure to manage development along the State Street corridor during the preparation of a revised Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map, to enhance the urban design of the corridor, and to promote its character as an urban boulevard.

2. Findings: The City finds that:

a. State Street, from the Central Business District to Boston Road, is a critical urban corridor;
b. A major public investment is being made to upgrade public infrastructure and amenities along the corridor;
c. The City is preparing a comprehensive revision of the zoning ordinance, including a review of zoning districts, and it is intended that the revised zoning regulations will include significant new standards for commercial development along State Street;
d. There are risks of adverse change occurring along the State Street corridor in the near term that could conflict with the City’s rezoning objectives and undermine the public investment;

Section A-1201. Establishment of District General

The SSIOD is established as an overlay district. The underlying permitted uses are permitted except as modified herein. The underlying prohibited uses remain prohibited.

Section A-1202. Sunset Clause

The provisions of this section shall expire on June 30, 2008, or when a comprehensive revision of the Zoning Ordinance is adopted by the City of Springfield, whichever is sooner.

Section A-1203. Establishment of District Boundaries

The SSIOD shall include parcels, or groups of contiguous parcels whether or not in common ownership, any portions of which are located within 100 feet of the right-of-way of State Street.

Section A-1204. Site Plan Review

During the period the SSIOD is in effect site plan review shall be required for all new construction and/or substantial rehabilitation of an existing structure(s), except for single-family and two-family dwellings. In order to expedite the permit process the site plan review shall be conducted by the Site Plan Review Committee (SPRC) consisting of representatives of the Office of Planning & Economic Development, Building Department, Department of Public Works and Fire Department, under the direction of the Planning Director or his/her designee.

Section A-1205. Submission Requirements

Five sets of the following information shall be provided as part of the site plan review: (please provide digital copies if available)

• Site plan showing boundaries and dimensions of the parcel and identifying contiguous properties that are within 50 feet of a proposed structure(s) and any known easements or right-of-way and roadways.
• Site plan showing existing features of the site lying within 100 feet of any proposed land alteration or structure, including land and water areas, water or sewer systems and the approximate location of all structures within 100 feet of the site.
• Site plan showing proposed locations and arrangement of structures and uses on the site, including all means of ingress and egress, parking and circulation of traffic.
• Elevation plans showing exterior dimensions and elevations of front, side and rear views.
• Sign plan showing dimensions, materials and location of all accessory signs including directional signage.
• Landscape plan showing any and all existing vegetation and proposed removal; location, size and type of all proposed plantings.

Any and all plans required shall be drawn to a scale of 1” = 20’ or such other scale as may be approved by the Office of Planning & Economic Development.

Section A-1206. Review Standards

In order to grant approval of a site plan, the SPRC must find that the application complies with the Zoning Ordinance and other applicable laws, including any applicable design standards including the dimensional regulations found in Section A-1209, will not adversely affect traffic, and will not adversely affect neighboring properties. The SPRC may not deny approval to an application that meets all zoning requirements, but it may impose reasonable conditions to ensure compliance with these standards and any other provisions of the Zoning Ordinance. These conditions shall be incorporated into any building permit or other approval issued by the City.

Section A-1207. Procedures

No public hearing shall be held or required for Site Plan review under Section A-1204.
The Office of Planning & Economic Development (OPED) shall make an initial review of the application for completeness of information as required in Section A-1205 and shall inform the applicant within five (5) business days whether any additional information will be required. Once the OPED has determined the application to be complete, the OPED shall circulate it to all other city agencies and departments that have jurisdiction or an interest in the application as determined by the OPED within three (3) business days.

The SPRC shall review the application and issue its determination within thirty (30) days of the OPED’s finding that the application is complete. The SPRC’s decision shall include any conditions reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with this ordinance and other applicable laws and regulations.

The SPRC’s decision shall be mailed to the applicant within two (2) business days and shall be simultaneously filed in the Office of the City Clerk and the Building Commissioner’s Office.

The applicant shall file a building or use permit application within six (6) months of receiving site plan approval. If no application is filed within this time period, the OPED may require a new application for administrative site plan review to be filed.

Section A-1208. Use Restrictions

Any use which would otherwise be allowed by special permit in the underlying zoning district shall be prohibited in the SSIOD for the period in which it is in effect. This prohibition shall not apply to the re-use of multi-family structures with four (4) or more units as provided in Article XV, Section 1500.4A.

Section A-1209. Dimensional Requirements

1. At least 60 percent of the front side of a lot facing State Street, measured in percentage of linear feet of the lot frontage, shall be occupied by buildings that are set back no more than 10 feet from the front lot line and that are at least 20 feet in depth, excepting new structures or additions to existing buildings where the new structure or addition matches the setback of the existing building(s) on the same parcel or where not visible from State Street.

2. At least 30 percent of any ground floor commercial building façade that is visible from and facing State Street shall be comprised of windows with clear glass allowing views into the interior.

3. All off-street parking spaces shall be located behind or beside the principal structure on the lot. No parking area shall be located closer to the front lot line than the front line of the principal structure.

4. The required setback from lot lines specified for parking areas shall consist entirely of landscaped open space, except for required access drives.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 11:48 am and is filed under City corridors, Community building, Development, Downtown, Planning and design, Public spaces, Quality of life, Springfield, Transportation, Urban Compass, Urban design, Walkability.