City of Charlottesville MEMO 7 James E. Tolbert, AICP, Director DATE: January 9, 2007 SUBJECT: — Height/Stepbacks for Discussion Planning Commission; Board of oo Review; Several weeks ago we asked several folks to serve on a committee to review the zoning ordinance and design guidelines as they relate to the downtown area. That group consists of the following: Fred Wolfe Board of Architectural Review Chairman Brian Hogg Board of Architectural Review Member Michael Osteen Planning Commission Member Jason Pearson Planning Commission Member Craig Barton. Architect Ken Schwartz Architect Charlie Lewis Downtown Property Owner Kay Slaughter SELC Mary Joy Staff Staff Ashley Cooper Staff We have met three times and believe that we have put together enough information for us to have a good discussion. The following represents the group consensus in most cases but we have not completely settled on a recommendation. In particular, we are still not sure what to do about stepbacks on the numbered side streets. Attached to this memo are diagrams, street profiles and the representation of a model. ‘These are all things that we have used to study this issue. Planning Commission; Board of Architectural Review RE: Height/Stepbacks for Discussion Page 1 of 4Onur goals in this effort are: © Preserve the unique character of the downtown mall by respecting the human scale of the existing environment. © Preserve the existing historic buildings. « Allow a substantial building envelope to permit reinvestment and development in mall properties. © Preserve adequate sun light on the mall, Water Street and the numbered site streets. Possible Heights and Stepbacks Mall - North Side Streetwall Height 40 feet Stepback 25 feet After Stepback 70 feet Mall - Southside Streetwall Height 40 feet Stepback AO feet After Stepback 70 feet Allow SUP to 101 feet when it does not block sun angle. When not in sun angle from mall Must adhere to mall sun angle restriction Market Street - South Side Streetwall 40 feet Stepback 40 feet After Stepback 70 feet ‘Water Street - North Side Streetwall 70 feet Stepback 15 feet After Stepback 101 feet from special use permit Planning Commission; Board of Architectural Review RE: HeightStepbacks for Discussion, Page 20f4Water Street - South Side (Belmont Bridge to Ridge Street) Streetwall 40 feet Stepback 40 feet After Stepback 70 feet South Street - South Side Street Wall 45 feet No more height allowed South Street - North Side Streetwall 45 feet Stepback 30 feet After Stepback 70 feet © Ifwe are concerned about density we are potentially not impacting. Current SUP densities are 200 units per acre. If the average downtown unit is 900 square fect, 34 dwelling units per acre will require approximately 31,000 square feet of area, leaving approximately 12,000 for access and mechanical. Six stories of residential could yield no loss of density in theory. © Sun Angle used is 32” for all southern sides of streets. It is measured from opposite building face at 6 feet above grade. Attached charts show how far back you have to be to stay below. This is what was used to calculate stepbacks. © Assumes simple one-time stepback. An alternative would be two part stepback on south side of Main and Water Streets. © Stepbacks on numbered streets shall be 25 feet. However, if width of comer building is less than 20 feet, the stepback may be reduced to no less than 20 feet. Sidestreet stepbacks may be reduced below 20 feet by SUP when the corner lot is less than 25 feet in width. © All stepbacks for entire frontage - not partial like they are now. Planning Commission; Board of Architectural Review RE: Height/Stepbacks for Diseussion Page 8 of 4