18J.40.060 Rural Area Design Standards and Guidelines

18J.40.060 Rural Area Design Standards and Guidelines.

1. Design Objective – Building Placement. In the rural area, buildings are generally required to locate in the interior of lots to provide adequate land for open space and tree retention around the perimeter property lines. When the land adjacent to exterior lot lines is kept free from development a variety of design objectives including: screening between incompatible land uses, pedestrian connections between developments, preservation of native vegetation, stormwater mitigation, and wildlife movement can be achieved.

(1) Screening is required adjacent to all exterior property lines, except for points of vehicular or pedestrian access, for new development in the rural area. Trails, utilities, small accessory structures such as a gazebo or picnic table, and fencing that does not impede wildlife movement may be permitted within required screening areas when the integrity of the screening can be maintained. The following screening standards shall be required, adjacent to the exterior of a development, for all new divisions of land, commercial, civic uses and utility buildings in the following rural zones:

(a) Rural Ten – 35 feet.

(b) Rural 5 – 35 feet.

(2) In Rural Neighborhood Centers, that portion of a commercial or civic building that faces the street shall be located within 25 feet of the street. When outdoor gathering places or low impact development (LID) best management practices (BMPs) are provided, the building is not required to be within 25 feet of the street as long as the building is located immediately adjacent to the outdoor gathering place.

(1) Existing native vegetation should be utilized for screening whenever possible. Supplemental landscaping may be necessary to provide an adequate screen. Vegetated low impact development (LID) facilities using native and drought tolerant vegetation, such as bioretention, may be used to meet landscaping requirements when supplemental plantings are used. Drought tolerant vegetation is encouraged to avoid irrigation.

(2) Landscaped areas may be suitable for required screening when a site is devoid or deficient in the quality and quantity of screening that is necessary to meet the objectives of this design element.

(3) Buildings should be designed to fit the natural slope rather than forcing the slope to fit the building design. Multi-tiered buildings are an example of an effective design solution that minimizes impacts to a site's natural features.

1. Design Objective – Architectural Character and details. A rural or rustic design theme is required for new development and exterior remodels of all buildings in rural neighborhood centers. This design can be achieved by introducing details such as knee bracing, wood siding, use of trim and siding, covered porches and window treatments. In other rural zones, building techniques such as concrete tilt-up construction that create structures with an industrial appearance should be avoided.

(1) Utilize wood, shake, stone, brick, cedar shingle, timber or other traditional building materials.

(2) Window patterns shall be characterized by vertical proportions with horizontally oriented rectangular forms prohibited.

(3) The use of reflective or mirrored windows is prohibited.

(4) Tenant specific motifs shall be prohibited. As an alternative, signs may be used to identify a specific tenant.

(5) Standardized corporate or franchised style in the design of new buildings shall be prohibited.

(6) Accessory structures shall be designed of the same building materials, roof forms, and color as primary structures that conform to these design standards.

(7) Accessory structures shall be designed to be architecturally comparable with the primary structure when the primary structure conforms to these design standards. Roof forms, building materials, and color shall be comparable to the primary structure.

(1) Avoid unusual roof forms (domed, mansard, curvilinear, etc.) on all structures.

(2) Multi-paned windows, or the appearance of multi-pained windows, such as one over one, two over two, or four over four patterns is encouraged.

(3) The area of first story windows on street front elevations should be at least twice the area of second story windows along the same side of the building.

(4) Retention and conservation of historic structures is encouraged.

(5) Utilize building materials that simulate traditional building materials.

2. Design Objective – Building Mass. The apparent scale of new commercial and civic developments should be reduced throughout the rural area. Within Rural Neighborhood Centers, design new buildings at a scale that is compatible with the size and character of the historical buildings in these centers.

(1) The use of long blank walls is prohibited. The maximum allowable length of an uninterrupted building elevation is 50 feet. Visual interruptions to the planes of exterior walls shall be achieved through a combination of the following methods:

(a) Modulating building facades at depth of least 4 feet and a width of at least 8 feet.

(b) Prominent facades shall have no wall plane wider then 2.5 times the height of the wall plane.

(2) Roof lines shall be interrupted every 50 feet with gable, hip, or dormer roof forms or a vertical shift of at least 5 feet.

(1) Avoid long, low wall planes

(2) Provide visual shifts in walls and roof surfaces.

3. Design Objective – Pedestrian Oriented Features. Design buildings and developments that are intended for use by the general public with pedestrian oriented features such as pedestrian walkways and outdoor gathering places.

(1) Commercial businesses that sell general merchandise or food and civic uses that are oriented toward pedestrian traffic such as a neighborhood post office shall provide an outdoor gathering place such as a courtyard, plaza or covered area with seating.

(2) Outdoor gathering places shall be accessible to the pedestrian.

(1) Locate outdoor gathering places to maximize sun exposure (typically a south or west exposure), and in locations where soils have good infiltration.

1. Design Objective – Color. Utilize natural colors that are prevalent in the rural area of the Gig Harbor Peninsula and are representative of a rural, forestry, agricultural or maritime theme. Avoid bold or bright primary colors

(1) Facade colors shall not be used to identify specific tenants as typified by national corporate fast food restaurants and gasoline stations.

(2) Earth tone colors shall be used for masonry building materials.

(3) Typically, no more than three colors should be used on one building, however, additional trim colors may be considered if they are a close shade of one of the other three colors.

(1) The use of natural wood is encouraged over paint.

(2) Major architectural trim or details should complement the main building's base color. Color is normally applied to major architectural trim and details such as window trim, corner siding trim, doors and door frames, knee bracing, and columns.

(3) Minor architectural details should be highlighted with minor accent color that complements base and major trim color. Minor accent color is normally applied to window sash, doors, storefront frames and small architectural elements.

(4) Murals may be used on building facades and are encouraged to reflect the history or natural landscape of the Gig Harbor Peninsula.

(5) Tinting may be used as an accessory element to a permitted window treatment.

(7) The base color of the main building or a complementary major accent color should be used for metal roofs.

(8) The use of bold or primary colors for the main body of buildings should be avoided.

2. Design Objective – Exterior Building Materials. Utilize natural materials such as stone, wood, heavy timbers, rough cut lumber or brick as exterior building materials.

(1) Wood, shake, stone, brick, cedar shingle, or timber materials shall be used for facade treatment.

(2) Raised seam metal, shake, shingle, unglazed tile or composition roofing shall be used for roof materials. Roof materials that are uncharacteristic of the area such as Spanish red clay, Oriental tile, or stucco are prohibited.

(1) Encourage the use of native stone or brick as an accent.

(2) Building materials used for site features such as fences, and screen walls should complement a primary on-site structure that conforms to these design standards.

(3) Utilize exterior building materials that simulate natural building materials.

1. Design Objective – Native Vegetation Screening and Perimeter Buffers. The retention of native vegetation and significant trees is necessary to preserve and enhance the visual appearance of the Gig Harbor Peninsula throughout the rural area. Retaining native vegetation on a development site also supports various environmental systems and provides a better transition between permitted land uses. The retention or replanting of native vegetation is required for all projects in the rural area. The following standards are intended to supplement the Tree Conservation and Landscape Standards in PCC 18J.15.030 and 18J.15.040.

(1) Native vegetative screening shall be retained between rural development and Highway 16. The depth of screening buffers shall be determined by evaluating the quality and quantity of natural vegetation that is available on the site together with intensity of the proposed use. In no case shall the screen buffer be less than 50 feet wide. Supplemental plantings shall be provided when existing native plantings do not provide a complete visual screen.

(2) The depth of native vegetation screening buffers shall be a minimum of 35 feet wide in a Rural 10 (R-10) and Rural 5 (R5) zone.

(3) The depth of native vegetation screening buffers shall be a minimum of 50 feet wide in a Rural Sensitive Resource (RSR) zone.

(4) The native vegetation screening requirements in this Section must provide a dense screen. Where existing vegetation does not provide adequate screening, additional native plantings may be required. The vegetative screen may only be broken at points of vehicular or pedestrian access.

(1) Setback areas should be retained in native vegetation where feasible and supplemented by planted native species where native vegetation is sparse or nonexistent.

(2) Native vegetation shall be utilized to provide a transition between land uses. Screening varies with the use and density or intensity of the proposed development and shall range from 25 to 70 feet in width on the property that has been proposed for development. The increase in screen width is based on the increase in impacts or incompatibility between uses.

(3) Preserve as much native vegetation on the site as possible to protect the aesthetic qualities of the Peninsula, to protect aquifers and aquifer recharge areas, provide wildlife habitat, and to prevent detrimental runoff to adjoining properties, streams, and other critical areas more closely mimic the natural hydrologic cycle.

(4) Native vegetation shall be retained in areas located contiguous to critical areas, open space tracts or other buffer areas creating the potential for corridors.

(5) Tree retention in clusters is a higher priority than tree retention in lineal strips.

2. Design Objective – Planting Design. Landscaping design shall incorporate native plant species into their proposal. Drought tolerant plantings are allowable substitutes for native species, provided the majority of plants species used for any landscaping design are native to the Puget Sound basin. The following planting design standards are intended to supplement the Landscape Standards, PCC 18J.15.030 and 18J.15.040.

(1) At least 50 percent of all trees, shrubs, or ground covers shall be native plant species.

(2) The use of berms or fencing shall not be permitted for perimeter screening requirements in the R10, RSR zones.

(3) Planting design standards are judged, as the plantings will exist five years after the development is completed.

(1) The use of sodded or seeded lawn should be avoided in civic, utility, commercial and industrial projects in the rural area except where necessary for recreation or outdoor gathering places.

(2) Project designs should emphasize the preservation and enhancement of existing native vegetation as a higher priority than supplemental landscaping.