Form-based Codes are not all created equal and one size does NOT fit all. Steve Cecil of Boston’s The Cecil Group gave a presentation at the Vermont Developers Conferences explaining how form-based codes can be highly effective and when it is advised to go a different route.
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Form-based Codes: When and How They are Useful
1. VERMONT DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE
Form-Based Codes:
When and How They are Useful
November 5, 2014
Steven Cecil AIA ASLA
The Cecil Group
VERMONT DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE | 2014 | Form Based Codes | Steven Cecil AIA ASLA | 1
2. Introduction
Topic:
Form-Based Codes: When and How they Are Useful
Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Form-Based Zoning 101
Comments and Questions: Tales from the Towns
Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
Case Studies
Observations: Form-Based Zoning and Vermont
Discussion
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3. Introduction
Speaker Steven Cecil AIA ASLA
Principal: The Cecil Group, Boston
Practice Focus: Planning, urban design and
townscapes for new England communities
Disciplines: Urban design, urban planning,
architecture, landscape architecture, environmental
planning
Clients: Municipalities, public agencies and
development authorities, developers, institutions
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4. Introduction
Speaker Steven Cecil AIA ASLA
Background and Form-Based Zoning:
o Preparation of form-based zoning for municipalities
o Preparation and negotiation of design standards and form-based
regulations for private development entities
o Advisory services for communities: when to use or when not to use
form-based codes and other innovative tools
o Publications, lectures and workshops on this topic
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5. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
The Form of Communities
The physical shape and appearance of communities is
the resolution of shared and private interests that are
the result of design, cultural and economic
influences.
The process of shaping
communities in New
England legally and
pragmatically requires an
active municipal
government role today –
and always has.
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6. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Forms to Think About: Prototypes
What shapes communities?
What shapes our perceptions and interpretation of
these forms?
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7. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Forms to Think About: Prototypes
Lebanon (CT) and its
Town Green
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8. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Forms to Think About: Prototypes
Concord (MA) and its
village centers
o Center
o Thoreau Depot
o West Concord
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9. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Forms to Think About: Prototypes
Dover (NH) and its
industrial heritage…a
river runs through it
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10. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Forms to Think About: Prototypes
Sudbury and the Role
of Roads:
o Post Road
o Rail
o Auto Routes
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11. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Forms to Think About: Prototypes
Boston as a layered
community
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12. Shaping Communities: Design, Culture and Economics
Challenges in Shaping Communities
Adapting to change
Balancing public interests and private choices
Providing effective frameworks for shared needs
(infrastructure, streets, roads, parcelization)
Supporting the health, safety and welfare of
communities
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13. Form-Based Codes 101
The Origins and Evolution of Zoning
Early 20th century
Government reform and
progressive movements
Urban planning as a
physical planning
profession
Euclidean zoning (that’s
Euclid, Ohio, not the
mathematician…)
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14. Form-Based Codes 101
The Origins and Evolution of Form-Based Codes
Reaction to development and infrastructure patterns
that did not support, or actively harmed, communities
Reaction to modern movement in city planning and
architectural design (“post-modernism”)
New urbanism movement
Assertion of urban design
that is neither architecture nor
civil engineering
Illustration from the
Pleasant Hill BART Station Property Code
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15. Form-Based Codes 101
The Origins and Evolution of Form-Based Codes
Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)
Founded in 1993 and dedicated to promoting mixed-use
neighborhood development and healthier living conditions.
Seaside Florida and Other Planned Development
1981 Seaside Development Code was the first modern
day application of FBC.
Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND)
Late 1980’s, early 1990’s several cities and counties in
the southeast adopted FBC in the form of TND ordinances.
The SmartCode
Released in 2003
Model transect-based development code applied to all
scales of planning
SmartCode Version 9.2 - Open source document available
today
From “Greenfields” to Existing Built Environments
Over the past 10 years, FBC has been applied city-wide as
well as to districts targeted for revitalization and
redevelopment.
Example of an early application of
Form-Based Zoning Principles:
Mashpee Commons,
Cavendish Partnership
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16. Form-Based Codes 101
What is a “Form-Based Code”?
Reconfiguration of the rules for development with a
focus on creating physically integrated and coordinated
development patterns for large areas by…
o Shaping relationships among private redevelopment, public space and
facilities, and infrastructure
o Creating texture in the physical fabric of communities by
acknowledging the need for fine-grained relationships among uses,
spaces and circulation
o Introducing urban design, architecture and landscape architecture into
land use regulations to increase value
o Facilitating diverse and mixed uses
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17. Form-Based Codes 101
The Components of Form-Based Codes
Regulating Plan
Transects
Sites
Buildings
Streets
Other Elements
Regulating Plan, Manchester CT
Form -Based Code
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18. Form-Based Codes 101
The Components of Form-Based Codes
Regulating Plan
Transects
Sites
Buildings
Streets
Other Elements
Transect Diagrams for New Development, The
Cecil Group with Concord Square Associates
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19. Form-Based Codes 101
The Components of Form-Based Codes
Regulating Plan
Transects
Sites
Buildings
Streets
Other Elements
Site Type Diagrams, Draft Form-Based
Zoning, Amherst, MA
The Cecil Group
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20. Form-Based Codes 101
The Components of Form-Based Codes
Regulating Plan
Transects
Sites
Buildings
Streets
Other Elements
Site Type Diagrams, Draft Form-
Based Zoning, Amherst, MA
The Cecil Group
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21. Form-Based Codes 101
The Components of Form-Based Codes
Regulating Plan
Transects
Sites
Buildings
Streets
Other Elements
Street Type Standards, Manchester, CT
Form Based Code,
The Cecil Group
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22. Form-Based Codes 101
The Components of Form-Based Codes
Regulating Plan
Transects
Sites
Buildings
Streets
Other Elements
Illustration from Tiverton, RI
Form Based Code,
The Cecil Group and Union Studio
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23. Form-Based Codes 101
Methods for Creating Form-Based Codes
Evaluation (“Calibration”)
Workshops (“Charrette”)
Visual Preference Analysis (“VPS”)
Design Standards (“FBC”)
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24. Form-Based Codes 101
Example: Visual Preference Survey
Visual Preference Survey Results,
Manchester, CT
The Cecil Group
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25. Form-Based Codes 101
Evolution of Form-Based Codes
Form-Based Codes were initially created and used for
greenfield development planning and approvals.
They are now being adapted to existing communities
as “hybrid codes.”
Form-Based Codes are being
strongly promoted by smart growth
and sustainability advocates,
municipal planners and public
officials, along with professionals
who prepare them.
Great Pond Development Concept Plan
Windsor, CT
Winstanley Enterprises LLC
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26. Form-Based Codes 101
FBC can be thought of as a brand
Value system
Brand promise
Origin narrative
Rituals
Language
Disciples
Demons
CNU
Calibration
VPS
Transects
FBC
TND
BMP’s
Regulating Plans…
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27. Form-Based Codes 101
Observations
Form-Based Codes are powerful tools.
They are not right for every circumstance, but can be
very beneficial in particular cases.
They need to be drafted and used with great care.
The advocacy, formulation and adoption of these
codes has important political, legal and economic
implications that need to be considered.
Form-Based Codes are a trend, trendy and often linked
to other planning, design and community agendas.
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28. Form-Based Codes 101
Tales from the Towns
Are Form-Based Codes being
promoted, planned and
implemented in your
community?
How have you learned about this
type of zoning?
What impact could they have in
your community?
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29. Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
Potential Benefits
More predictable review and approval process leading
to development rights (“entitlements”)
Comprehensive entitlement strategy for large and
complex projects, creating community support through
a consensus-building process
Enhanced value and quality assurance for new
development and renovations in an entire district
Method to link public realm and private realm
investments
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30. Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
Potential Pitfalls
Overly restrictive standards that block feasible
redevelopment, resulting in no substantial reinvestment
Codifications of preferences that cannot be achieved,
including topics such as parking standards, building
scale, infrastructure or public benefits
Planning processes that misuse seductive visualization
and misrepresent the roles and responsibilities and
outcomes, leading to unfounded public expectations
Legal risks – including regulations that do not adhere
to legal standards
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31. Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
Misalignment with Market Trends
Automobiles and community design - antipathy for cars
that does not take into account fundamental
transportation and market conditions
Concept Illustration
Woodmont Commons, Londonderry NH
Duany Plater - Zyberk & Company
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32. Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
Misalignment with Market Trends
Building scales – Restrictions on building dimensions
that are not consistent with feasible development
Excerpt
Form-Based Code
Poughkeepsie, NY Waterfront
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33. Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
Misalignment with Market Trends
Mix of uses – Combinations of uses that are not
consistent with market conditions, particularly in regards
to the timing, amount and distribution of retail uses
Image from the Master Plan for
Southfield (former South
Weymouth Naval Air Station,
SMWM Prime Consultant
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34. Misalignment with Market Trends
Building or site development costs – Design standards
that cannot practically be accomplished
Draft Form-Based Code
for the Tri-Town
Development Area,
Massachusetts
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35. Potential Benefits and Drawbacks
Alignment with Market Trends
Current trends in retail development: place-making
Value derived from civic spaces and attractive streets
Preferences for sustainable practices
Value associated with pedestrian-oriented districts
Preferences for traditional village development
South Norwalk (CT) TOD Master Plan
The Cecil Group
Rendering by Beinfield Architecture, PC
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36. Case Studies
Form-Based Code, Manchester, CT
o Focused on underutilized
commercial land
o Accompanied acquisition of large
areas by the municipality for a
Request for Development
Proposals
Illustrations from the Manchester Code, The Cecil Group
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37. Case Studies
Village Center Zoning, Amherst, MA
o Initiative to create compact village
centers as a future pattern of
development
o Narrowly defeated at two town
meetings; unfamiliar approach and
fears of expanded student housing
in multifamily developments raised
by residents in nearby low density
neighborhoods
o Implementation being advanced
through proposed incremental
changes rather than as a
comprehensive zoning package
Illustrations, Draft Zoning for North Amherst and Atkins Corner,
Amherst, Massachusetts, The Cecil Group
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38. Case Studies
Tri-Town Form-Based Initiative, Massachusetts
o Coordinated planning for
redevelopment of large land areas in
three towns (Andover, Tewksbury,
Wilmington) including planning for a
new interstate interchange
o Preparation of coordinated
proposals for form-based zones in
all three towns
o Professional evaluation of potential
economic and real estate impacts
indicated that some form-based
provisions would significantly
impede feasible redevelopment
o Zoning proposals rejected at town
meetings
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39. Case Studies
Woodmont Commons, Londonderry, NH
o Professional advocacy of form-based
zoning by the peer review
professional team
o Preparation of detailed design
guidelines by the proponent similar
to form-based zoning as part of a
master planned development
provision in the existing zoning,
leading to approval of the master
plan
o Establishment of formulas and
allocation of uses, density and
subsequent project review and
approval process Woodmont Common Master Plan Illustration
Woodmont Commons Planning Team
The Cecil Group/Shook Kelley/Chellman
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40. Case Studies
Woodmont Commons, Londonderry, NH
o Example of flexible application of
standards: compliance alternative
mechanism is built into the approved
master plan that implements the
zoning
o Compliance alternative – a project
may be approved in regards to certain
standards if both the proponent and
the permit granting authority agree that
the alternative approach meets a list of
planning and design principles at least
as well as the requirements that would
otherwise apply to the project
o Avoids the need for zone changes or
variances in many cases
Woodmont Common Master Plan Illustration
Woodmont Commons Planning Team
The Cecil Group/Shook Kelley/Chellman
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41. Observations on Form-Based Codes and Vermont
Developer Opportunities
Identify and support concepts that are
aligned with market conditions
Use form-based methods for large
projects as a type of master plan
zoning to advance planning for
projects and zoning simultaneously
Promote useful flexibility through
compliance alternative mechanisms
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42. VERMONT DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE
Form-Based Codes:
When and How They are Useful
November 5, 2014
Steven Cecil AIA ASLA
The Cecil Group
VERMONT DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE | 2014 | Form Based Codes | Steven Cecil AIA ASLA | 42