This fall, the Tacoma City Council will appoint members to a new Urban Design Commission to help consider the city’s largest and most important architectural projects. This is part of a new amendment to the Municipal Ordinance to create an urban design project review permitting process focused on medium- to large-scale projects in downtowns and designated mixed-use centers.
At the City Council’s April 23 study session, Senior Planner Stephen Antupit said these moves are meant to create more balance between competing challenges in urban development.
“We know that there are inequitable development outcomes across cities, but that’s partly because what we’re doing now with prescriptive land use laws doesn’t necessarily produce better outcomes or that design innovations “This is also a result of the fact that there is limited community awareness of large-scale transformational projects around the city, which cannot always be balanced with other city objectives. “There are ways to improve transparency,” he said.
The Planning Department’s Urban Design Project Review has been in the works for years. This proposal was informed and developed through the City’s Design Review Analysis Manual, completed in 2016. This manual identifies key components and options for establishing a design review program. In 2017, City Council approved a budget to advance the creation of the Design Review Program, and from 2018 to 2021, project staff worked with the Project Advisory Group to develop the Urban Design Project Review Proposal.
If the proposed urban design project review is adopted, a new land use permitting process will incorporate consideration of the project’s relationship to the urban environment, public realm, connectivity, climate responsiveness and other urban design concerns. will be established. Permits are required for large-scale developments located in any of the city’s 16 designated mixed-use centers.
Larger developments would receive the highest level of review through the proposed Urban Design Commission, while smaller projects would undergo administrative review. Building size standards within the neighborhood center are lower than standards for other mixed-use centers such as Downtown, Tacoma Mall, and Crossroads Center. All levels of review will receive public notice and opportunity for comment. Board-level reviews include one public meeting during the conceptual design stage.
It is important to note that the areas that require review in the urban design project are not subject to changes made in the Tacoma home project.
“Where this is not the case is in the areas involved in the Home in Tacoma project, which are low- and medium-sized residential areas and other non-conventional areas outside of mixed-use,” said senior planner Karl Metz. It is a residential area.” Center. We do not propose this process for any halfway houses, and that is why there are state laws that specifically prohibit this type of review for halfway houses. ”
Antupit said the new system addresses priorities within the city council in terms of creating a more consistent and intentional environment for the city.
“With this proposal centered on equity, livability, climate resilience, and all the ingredients for healthy communities, we can uphold and advance your priorities for healthy communities. . This is exactly what this is about,” Antupit said. Tools we are not leveraging to make that possible. For these reasons, we move forward with a sense that design is important to everyone’s well-being. ”
Senior Planners Stephen Antupit (left) and Karl Metz presented an urban design project review proposal to City Council. |
The scale of projects implemented through this review will be adjusted according to neighborhood conditions. Examples of building sizes subject to design review include the 170,000-square-foot Merrill Gardens residential development in the Stadium District and the 56,000-square-foot Patsy Sur Place planned for the Lincoln District. .
The city has revealed that Urban design project review The State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) regulations currently in place will not change.
“This ordinance itself is not a SEPA-triggering event, because we do not change zoning heights or transportation consents. By establishing a program, we do not change any of the SEPA concerns. We don’t do that,” Antupit said. All currently applicable SEPA requirements continue to apply to this pathway. That doesn’t change. ”
The Urban Design Commission consists of seven members appointed by the City Council. There will be a mix of experts and members with lived experience who will contribute local insight, including those with experience in accessibility for people with disabilities. Given the specificity of the mission’s requirements, finding and retaining these members will take several months. Mr. Antupit is a potential Design Commission member whose term is coming to an end on a board or committee on which City staff currently serves, or who may have applied to serve on a board or commission in the past. He said he is trying to identify them and looking into their work schedules. I didn’t allow them to participate.
“We want to find those people now, which is why we’re asking you to spend these months over the summer submitting a strong list of applicants in the fall. ” Antupit told the council.
Brett Santaf has served on the city’s Planning Commission since 2015. He told City Council that a key resource in developing the program and its recommendations were lessons learned in other communities and advice and recommendations from the Project Advisory Group, which began meeting in 2019. said. This group includes community members from across Tacoma, design professionals such as architects and engineers, developers working on projects locally and regionally, non-profit affordable housing providers such as the Tacoma Housing Authority, and preservation knowledge. It is made up of experts.
“Design reviews sometimes get a bad rap, but we structured this program to avoid potential pitfalls. Our program paints the picture,” he said. “The priority is to support the building in being a good neighbor.” Avoid dictating architectural style and details, and limit the process to avoid weaponizing it against development. ”
Santhuff further explained that the focus here is on achieving better outcomes, particularly how buildings relate to the public realm.
“We want to support good, thoughtful site-specific design, and as part of that we are allowing a voluntary exit process where developers can suggest alternative solutions if certain criteria cannot be met. .”
Councilwoman Christina Walker chairs the city’s Infrastructure, Planning and Sustainability Committee.
“I started this process out of some of the bad press for urban design. I really questioned whether this was necessary, but I think we’ve gone through a great process together so far and come up with a really great product.” she said. she said.
Walker said some parts of urban design project reviews are designed to avoid undue burdens on developers and ensure the public has an opportunity to provide additional input when something comes into a neighborhood. He pointed out that there are some areas that can be provided.
“I’m really excited about what you’ve proposed and want to get it off the ground,” she said.
Mr Antupit also said he looked forward to the review being fully implemented.
“We have a lot of work to do and we are excited to reach out to our stakeholder customers as well as those in the community who may be interested in applying for director positions. These appointments will be recommended in October and permitting requirements and processes will be in place by January 1, 2025.”
The UDPR does not replace or circumvent existing review processes. As a new tool, it could become a mechanism to approve experimental housing and creative solutions beyond what is allowed through the code.
“Depending on where those complexes are located, UDPR will certainly support those kinds of creative solutions as a path to accomplishing that kind of development proposal,” Metz said. .
For more information, visit cityoftacoma.org (here and here).