Downtown design guidelines: Never implemented?
(Jon) While looking for information to bolster my previous post about the new downtown Subway restaurant, I came across the Fort Wayne Downtown Design Guidelines (PDF).
At the bottom of the cover, it says, “Proposed Effective Date: Jan. 5, 2004.” But it doesn’t seem it was ever implemented. Can anyone point me to a short history and status report about this document?
I haven’t read it through, but I did find the following that could have applied to the site plan of the downtown Subway:
Building location, height, form and scale
In order to protect the unique character of the central downtown, new buildings and façade renovations of existing buildings should relate in similarity of scale, height, and configuration to nearby buildings. Adopted development standards for setbacks, building height, form and scale should provide for flexibility in order to accomplish this goal.
1. Location requirements.
In order to develop and maintain a pedestrian-friendly environment, the following standards should be applied to development within the central downtown area:
a. Buildings should be built at the edge of the public right of way to the greatest extent possible. However, in areas where a setback has been established new buildings should conform to the established setback for the area.
b. In infill situations, buildings should occupy the entire lot frontage.
If these design guidelines had been in place, maybe everyone could have been happier about this restaurant.
