§ 6.1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
6.1.1
Guiding Principles
A.
Buildings are aligned and close to the street. Buildings form the space of the street.
B.
The street is a coherent space, with consistent building forms on both sides. This agreement of buildings facing across the street-space contributes to a clear public space and street-space identity.
C.
Buildings oversee the street-space with active fronts. This overview of the street-space contributes to vital and safe public space.
D.
Property lines are physically defined by buildings, walls, or fences. Land should be clearly public or private—in public view and under surveillance or private and protected.
E.
Buildings are designed for towns and cities. Rather than being simply pushed closer together, as in many suburban developments, buildings must be designed for the urban situation within towns and cities. Views are directed to the street-space and interior gardens/court-yards, not into neighboring lots.
F.
Vehicle storage/parking, (not including on-street parking), garbage and mechanical equipment are kept away from the street-space.
6.1.2
Intent
A.
The Form Districts are designed to foster a series of vibrant mixed-use form districts—the Warehouse District, West Main, Sheridan Triangle, and Prospect Road—within the historic core of the City (the boundaries of each form district can be found in 6.2 through 6.5). These are districts intended to promote traditional urban form and a lively mix of uses. These districts are intended to allow for shopfronts, sidewalk cafes, and other commercial uses at the street level, with wide sidewalks and canopy shade trees, overlooked by upper story residences and offices. -
B.
Redevelopment within the Form Districts shall be regulated as set forth below in order to achieve the vision set forth in the Heart of Peoria Plan. This Chapter provides the specific means to guide implementation of the citizen-endorsed vision for the development and redevelopment of all properties in the Form Districts.
6.1.3
Conflicting Provisions
Wherever there appears to be a conflict between this Chapter and other requirements of this development code, the requirements specifically set forth in this Chapter shall prevail. For development standards not covered in this Chapter, additional standards may also apply.
6.1.4
Components of this Section
The Section is comprised of Form District Regulating Plans and Building Envelope Standards, Architectural Standards, Street Specifications, Streetscape Standards and Parking Requirements as described below.
A.
Regulating Plans
1.
A regulating plan provides standards for the disposition of each property or lot and illustrates how each relates to the adjacent properties and street-space. The regulating plan is the coding key for the Form District that provides specific information on permitted development for each property.
2.
The regulating plan identifies the building envelope standards for all building sites within each Form District. The regulating plan also shows how each lot relates to public spaces (street-space, civic greens, pedestrian pathways, etc.) and the surrounding neighborhood. There may be additional regulations for lots in special locations as identified on the specific regulating plan. The key below explains the elements of the regulating plan and serves as a reference when examining the regulating plan.
3.
Full-scale regulating plans are available for review at the Community Development Department.
Illustrated Regulating Plan
Properties are coded by their street frontage
B.
Building Envelope Standards
1.
The building envelope standards establish basic parameters governing building form, including the envelope for building placement (in three dimensions) and certain required or permitted building elements, such as shopfronts, doors, windows, balconies, and street walls. The building envelope standards establish both the boundaries within which things may be done and specific things that must be done. The applicable building standard for a lot or parcel is determined by its street frontage, as designated on the regulating plan. The building envelope standards also include broad parameters for use.
2.
The intent of the building envelope standards is to shape vital public space throughout each Form District through placement and envelope controls on buildings that frame the street-space. The standards aim for the minimum level of control necessary to meet that goal.
C.
Architectural Standards
The goal of the architectural standards is to promote a coherent and pleasing architectural character that is complementary to the best regional traditions. The standards govern a building's architectural elements regardless of its building envelope standard and set the parameters for allowable materials, configurations, and construction techniques. Equivalent or better products than those specified are always encouraged and may be submitted for approval to the City.
D.
Street Specifications
The street-type specifications illustrate typical configurations for streets within the Form Districts. Specifications address vehicular traffic lane widths, curb radii, sidewalk and tree planting area dimensions, pedestrian crossing distances, and on-street parking configurations.
E.
Streetscape Standards
The streetscape standards are intended to ensure coherent street-space and to assist builders and owners with understanding the relationship between the public space of the form district and their own building. These standards set the parameters for the placement of street trees and other amenities or appurtenances (e.g., benches, signs, street lights, etc.) on or near each building site and are coordinated with the street specifications.
F.
Parking Requirements
The goals of the parking requirements are to:
1.
Promote a "park once" environment that will enable people to conveniently park and access a variety of commercial and civic enterprises in pedestrian friendly environments by encouraging shared parking.
2.
Reduce fragmented, uncoordinated, inefficient, single-purpose reserved parking.
3.
Avoid adverse parking impacts on neighborhoods adjacent to the form districts.
4.
Maximize on-street parking.
5.
Increase visibility and accessibility of publicly available parking.
6.
Provide flexibility for redevelopment of small sites.
7.
Promote early prototype projects using flexible and creative incentives.
8.
Incorporate convenient bicycle parking.
6.1.5
How to Use this Code
In order to understand what this Section allows on property within each district in question, there are four basic steps. This information explains where the building will sit on the site, the parameters for its three dimensional form, the range of allowable uses, and the palette of materials that will cover it.
A.
Look at the regulating plan (available on the City's website or from the Community Development Department). Find the property. Note the required building line and the parking setback line. Note the color of the fronting street-space - this determines the building envelope standards for buildings fronting that street (shown in Sections 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5).
B.
Look at the appropriate building envelope standards pages. These pages will tell you the regulations for building on this site in terms of Height, Siting, Elements, and Use. Note: proposed encroachments into the public right-of-way must obtain approval pursuant to Section 26-11 of the City Code which includes above and below ground encroachments.
C.
Look at the architectural standards section to understand the parameters for the external building materials and architectural configurations.
D.
Additional information regarding the street-space is located in the street type specifications and the streetscape standards. These will show the prescriptions for the character of the street-space including vehicular traffic lane widths, curb radii, sidewalk and tree planting area dimensions, and on-street parking configurations.
E.
A property seeking a building expansion, façade alteration, or other modification to existing structures or parking areas, which includes waivers of form district regulations, must apply for a Special Use pursuant to 2.9.
6.1.6
Rules for New Development
A.
Blocks/Alleys
1.
All lots shall share a frontage line with a street-space.
2.
All lots and/or all contiguous lots shall be considered to be part of a block for this purpose. No block face shall have a length greater than 400 feet without an alley, common drive or access easement, or pedestrian pathway providing through-access to another street, alley, common access easement, or street-space. Individual lots with less than 99 feet of frontage are exempt from the requirement to interrupt the block face; those with over 250 feet of frontage shall meet the requirement within their lot, unless already satisfied within that block face.
3.
Curb cuts shall be limited to no more than one per 200 feet of street frontage, except where otherwise designated on the regulating plan.
4.
Where designated on the regulating plan:
a.
Alleys shall provide access to the rear of all lots. Alley construction is required as part of the redevelopment project within the rear setback, unless an alley already exists. Alleys shall be constructed to meet the City construction standards in order to be suitable for emergency and service vehicle access.
b.
Where an alley does not exist and is not constructed at the time of redevelopment of any property, the applicant is required to dedicate the alley right of way within the rear setback to the City, build the alley, maintain the area within the rear setback by, at a minimum:
i.
Sodding and providing routine landscape maintenance to the area.
ii.
Keeping the area clear of debris, stored materials, and vehicles.
B.
Buildings
1.
The maximum building floor-plate (footprint) is 50,000 square feet; beyond that limit a special use permit is necessary.
2.
For each block face, buildings along the required building line shall present a complete and discrete vertical façade composition (i.e., a new façade design) at an average street frontage length of no greater than 60 feet for neighborhood center sites; or 75 feet for general and local sites. Each façade composition shall include a functioning, primary street-space entry. This requirement may be satisfied through the use of liner shops for large floor-plate buildings. For individual infill projects on lots with frontage of less than 100 feet, only a single façade composition is required.
3.
When the building envelope standard designation changes along a street frontage, the property owner has the option of applying either building envelope standards for a maximum additional distance of 75 feet in either direction along that frontage.