Fort Walton Beach Resolution — 2012-20--2012 CRA Plan Update — reading text

related structures. Recommendation 4. 8. 1 & 4. 8. 2 1. Provide guidelines and examples of methods to achieve compatibility of accessory structures with primary structures. 2. Consider standards or incentives to achieve compatibility for accessory structures. Screening and landscaped buffers help ensure aesthetic appeal by providing visual barriers for equipment such as electrical facilities or heating and air conditioning equipment. In addition, screening and buffers block public view of dumpsters, recycling areas, parking areas which allow lights from vehicles to shine onto adjacent properties, or even outdoor gathering places with potential for noise. Recommendation 4. 9. 1 1. Utilize adequate and appropriate screening and buffers of service equipment, parking areas, dumpsters, and gathering places. Review grant applications for consistency. Site features include such things as buffers and accessory structures, addressed above. However, many additional site features are appropriate, including landscaping, fencing, shade devices, outdoor furniture, and recreation areas. These features should be integrated into the overall site design to ensure consistency and compatibility of color, style, scale, materials, and location. In residential areas, outdoor recreation facilities can be an important amenity to single -family as well as multifamily development. Location is important as outdoor areas can have a negative impact due to lights and noise. In business areas, plazas and other outdoor gathering or resting places can provide points of interest along the streetscape as well as opportunities for respite to the pedestrian or bicyclist. 2012 City of Fort Walton Beach  2012 Community Redevelopment Plan Intense commercial or business development areas will allow the most impervious surface coverage. In such instances, planters and containers can nevertheless provide landscaping for both screening and aesthetic appeal. In less intense residential areas, landscaping can support drainage designs and help improve recharge of stormwater runoff. Recommendation I 1 1. Provide guidelines and examples to demonstrate integration of site features into the overall design of a site. 2. Ensure landscaping is consistent with the Land Development Code and harmoniously compliments the development. 3. Ensure the land development code contains provisions to provide bonus incentives for number, placement, and design of site features. 4. Ensure that public spaces serve as models of good design and integration of site features into the overall design of an area, including compatibility with any principle buildings on a site. 5. Consider establishing a bench sponsorship program to encourage the placement of benches which encourage pedestrians to frequent businesses and as part of supporting transit in the area. 6. Utilize awnings, canopies, or other shading devices to further support pedestrian activity. Signs are needed to provide directions, identify locations, and advertise businesses. Throughout the CRA, signs should be pedestrian scaled and externally lighted. A variety of sign types is appropriate: monument signs, wall signs, window signs, awning signs, banners, and sandwich signs. Signs placed on walls, windows, and awnings are easily integrated into the overall design of buildings and sites. It is important that window signs be limited in size in order to maintain visibility. Signs should complement the colors, materials, and design elements of the principle buildings served by the signs. Public signs for wayfinding and identification of public buildings and spaces should have uniformity in design, style, size, and color to enhance recognition of public places. Recommendation 4. 11. 1 - 4. 11. 4 I. Implement signage standards that include requirements for size, number, and location based on the need for identification as well as consistency design. 2. Ensure consistency and compatibility of design, with particular attention to maximum coverage for wall and window signs. 2012 City of Fort Walton Beach  2012 Community Redevelopment Plan 3. Establish a theme for public signs, including design, materials, and color, for consistency with the standards recommended for the CRA and for uniformity of public signs throughout the CRA. 4. Encourage joint signage to reduce clutter while still ensuring business identification and location information. Redevelopment in the CRA Area can be limited by the relatively high incidence of personal and property crimes and the concentration of transients and others at the social and legal margins. The Community Redevelopment Area and the Fort Walton Beach Police Department share common interests and goals toward identifying long term solutions for crime suppression and community revitalization in the CRA. The City' s Police Department developed an innovative comprehensive program to improve the actual and perceived security of the redevelopment district residents, customers, visitors and business people through the implementation of its Community Policing Unit (CPU). The CPU initiative offers proactive law enforcement services via traditional and non- traditional methods to maintain a safe community. The philosophy of the CPU is to address crime through problem - solving tactics and police/community partnerships. These cooperative efforts, which involve the Community Policing Officers, staff from various City departments, property owners, and business owners, have proven to be very effective in maintaining safe neighborhoods and should be expanded as necessary. In addition to a variety of policing programs, design of buildings and spaces should include Crime Prevention through Environmental Design ( CPTED) strategies. The four principles of CPTED are: Natural Surveillance: A design concept directed primarily at keeping potential criminals and their targets under observation. Applying natural surveillance concepts during planning often reduces the need for more expensive security measures. Natural Access Control: A design strategy directed at decreasing crime by denying access to targets and creating a perception of risk to offenders. It is also used to prevent public access to private areas. CPTED discourages a " fortress mentality" but recognizes that high - value targets require the application of more traditional security measures. Territorial Reinforcement: The belief that physical design can contribute to a sense of ownership and responsibility for a space. This results in higher actual and perceived levels of risk to potential offenders Maintenance: Improper maintenance is the enemy of territorial reinforcement and implies no one cares what happens in this place." Thus, proper design supports maintenance by including graffiti resistant surfaces, vandal -proof lighting and landscaping selected for easy maintenance. Beach 2012  2012 Community Redevelopment Plan Recommendation 4. 12. 1 - 4. 12. 4 1. Continue current programs for coordination with neighborhood residents and business owners, such as the CPU, the Great Neighborhoods Partnership Program, and Neighborhood Watch Programs. 2. Include CPTED techniques in design guidelines, considering the design of individual sites, streetscapes, and public buildings and spaces. 3. Ensure that public buildings and spaces include CPTED design techniques as a model for private development and to increase safety for visitors and residents of the CRA and the City. 4. Ensure CPTED training for public safety staff to enhance understanding and implementation of the techniques. Encouraging specific design guidelines will help increase property values and promote further business activity in the CRA. To this end, good community and building design must incorporate a variety of housing choices, including a mix of income ranges. In particular, targeting vacant and undemtilized parcels can help meet objectives in housing and community appearance /design. The following section outlines the goal, objectives, and strategies for housing in the CRA. City of Fort Walton  2012 Community Redevelopment Plan COMPONENT 5 - HOUSING HOUSING GOAL: IMPROVE QUALITY, QUANTITY, AND OPTIONS FOR HOUSING IN THE CRA Objectives: Improve the Quality of Housing through the Use of CRA Funds and Available State and Federal Housing Programs and Funds Prepare the CRA for Anticipated Increase in Median Age by Ensuring an Adequate Range of Housing Types to Meet the Needs of Elderly and Special Needs Achieve the Desired Level of Mixed Income Housing within the CRA by Providing a Wide Range of Quality Housing Opportunities and Choices for All Income Levels Achieve Public Participation Regarding Neighborhood Planning and Housing Development Throughout the CRA Provide for Infill Opportunities by Making Productive Use of Scattered Vacant and Underutilized Parcels Incorporate Recommendations for Housing into the Land Development Code Introduction Housing constitutes a significant share of new construction and development in the Community Redevelopment Area ( CRA). Successful implementation of the CRA Plan requires an increased residential population, primarily through increased density. Development should be integrated with, and interconnected to, a wide range of commercial uses and allow residents better vehicular and pedestrian access to employment, services, education, recreation and entertainment. The addition of new housing units — attached housing, accessory units, or multi -family dwellings — within existing neighborhoods creates opportunities for communities to slowly increase density without radically changing the character. Most importantly, a range of housing choices allows households in all incomes to find their niche in the community and creates the synergy for an energetic, pedestrian- friendly city. Housing improvements can be achieved through the leveraging of CRA funds through public -private partnerships, utilizing other grant opportunities, preparing for shifts in median age within the CRA, and promoting mixed- income housing through zoning incentives. 2012 City of Fort Walton Beach  2012 Community Redevelopment Plan Housing options are essential to the CRA to accommodate the needs of a wide range of population demographics such as income level, family size, and age. One way to raise the quality of housing as a whole is to develop and participate in programs that preserve and improve current housing stock. Several programs currently exist City- wide, identified below, that achieve that objective. CRA- specific programs could also be developed that leverage existing available funding. 1. Continue current programs that improve the quality of life and consider new public -private partnerships that contribute to housing goals. The City has a