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URBAN DESIGN City of Kennewick Comprehensive Plan Urban Design Technical Document 127 URBAN DESIGN ELEMENT WAC 365-195-345 INTRODUCTION Urban design is a key component for a community’s livability. It guides the community’s vision into a physical reality. Kennewick takes a holistic approach in urban design where elements of the Comprehensive Plan are consistent with urban design goals and policies, and every project is viewed with respect to the larger context of the community’s vision. The Urban Design Element will apply to the three dimensional aspects of the built environment such as buildings, streets, sidewalks, open spaces, and plazas. It also addresses other urban issues such as circulation and connectivity, sustainability, neighborhoods and districts. The Urban Design Element is not mandated by the GMA. It is an optional element pursuant to WAC 365-195-345 and RCW 36.70A.080. Kennewick acknowledges urban design as an importance tool for the community building and economic development processes. The City also recognizes the importance of smart growth principles for its livability and vitality. This Urban Design Element, and its goals and policies are based on smart growth principles that fit the City’s vision. DESIGN Kennewick strives to implement quality design through private and public projects. A quality design combines aspects of architecture, landscape architecture, and environmental design. It encourages creativity, safety, compatibility and sustainability in the design. Site and building design are the fundamental steps to create an attractive built environment. The City’s adopted residential and commercial design standards provide basic guidelines for developers to achieve quality developments. In general, these standards offer direction in the following areas: building compatibility, location and orientation, access, parking, site landscaping, architectural features, environmental protection, safety and security, and streetscape design. The City aims to achieve quality design in citywide civic projects such as, public buildings and plazas, streetscape and corridor development, public art, parks, and open spaces. High quality design in public projects will set the standards for Kennewick and will generate further quality developments by the private sector. Public art is an important component of a designed environment. Public art such as sculptures, reliefs, murals, and art pieces can transform the character of an area. Kennewick promotes artworks of local artists in public places. Public art in Kennewick can be reflective of local history and culture, and should be consistent with the character of the area where it is being placed. PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT With the growth in the Tri-City area, it is important for Kennewick to become a vibrant and livable community in the region in order to make it the prime destination. While vehicular mode of transportation is important for the City’s growth, a pedestrian-friendly environment would increase the City’s livability. Comfortable and safe pedestrian movements will make Kennewick a more attractive place for living and working. ---PAGE BREAK--- URBAN DESIGN City of Kennewick Comprehensive Plan Urban Design Technical Document 128 All urban design goals and policies, and the commercial and residential design standards are geared towards creating a pedestrian friendly community. Mix of uses, smaller block size, mid-block connection, safe walkways between businesses and parking lots, safe pedestrian crossing, network of paths and trails throughout the City, good transit system, building orientation and design for human scale, usable open spaces and plazas – are all major considerations for promoting an attractive pedestrian friendly environment in Kennewick. Streetscape is one of the most important aspects for creating a pedestrian friendly environment. Separation of sidewalks from streets, wider sidewalks, street trees and landscaping, sidewalk paving pattern, lighting, and safe cross-street connections will promote a safe and pedestrian-friendly streetscape environment. Traffic calming measures such as landscaped medians, pedestrian crossings, roundabouts, and speed bumps also enhance the safety of pedestrian movements. CIRCULATION AND CONNECTIVITY Kennewick’s circulation system is designed for vehicular, pedestrian, bike and transit traffic. It is composed of a network of streets, street-crossings, sidewalks, bike routes, pedestrian trails, and walkways. All of these are intended to connect with each other in order to create a continuous and cohesive circulation pattern throughout the city. The goal for circulation and connectivity is aimed to increase accessibility to major destinations throughout the City for all sectors of people. It aims to offer more than a single choice of movement for people by including multi-modal connections of vehicular, bike, pedestrian, and transit system. Establishing connections between open spaces and parks through pedestrian and bike trails is also part of the City’s connectivity goal. One of the objectives for efficient circulation is to ensure that all arterial and collector streets run throughout the City without any discontinuity. It would also maintain the continuity of the sidewalks along with the roads. The City prioritizes the connectivity between the major destinations. This includes vehicular and pedestrian connections between neighborhoods and schools, between retail businesses, and between parks and other major public amenities. The City works closely with the private sector in order to create an efficient circulation pattern within the business and residential environment. This will be achieved by promoting transit, providing walkways, reducing block sizes, allowing through-block pedestrian connections for big blocks, and creating more thorough roads than cul-de-sacs and dead ends. PUBLIC PLACES Public places in Kennewick include parks, plazas, playgrounds, sidewalks, and open spaces. It also includes private spaces that are dedicated for public use. The character of public spaces can be different based on their types and uses. Public places can be formal in urban plazas, semi-formal in urban parks, and informal in open spaces and passive parks. Public places offer important civic nodes for Kennewick. They offer places for recreation and interaction, thereby promoting the sense of community. Kennewick maintains safety, usability and easy accessibility for all public places. The City aims to implement Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles in public places to ensure safety. One way to implement the CPTED ---PAGE BREAK--- URBAN DESIGN City of Kennewick Comprehensive Plan Urban Design Technical Document 129 principles is to put more uses around the public places, and orient buildings towards public places in order to create an interactive, safe, “eyes on the street” environment. Paths and trails that connect with major streets should be designed to make them visible and easily identifiable. Access to the waterfront and other recreational areas will also be maintained and enhanced for public use. Public plazas should be located near the major street intersections, gateways and business centers to serve as urban breathing spaces. In major locations, public places can be integrated with landmark structures, such as architecturally significant building design, sculpture, and art works. Public places should have amenities based on the types of usages. For instance, parks and plaza areas should have benches, lighting and similar amenities. Parks usually have additional amenities such as play areas, playgrounds, picnic areas, and public restrooms. Neighborhood parks are located near the residential neighborhoods and schools to meet the neighborhood demand for recreation. DISTRICTS Districts are generally created by peoples’ perception which identifies the sense of being “inside of” an area, and where a person can associate him/herself with some common identifying features. Usually this perception is derived from some tangible features such as homogeneity of physical aspects, and non-tangible features such as ethnic mix or demographic patterns. Kennewick recognizes the importance of intangible features in the neighborhoods, and seeks to establish the tangible aspects, such as physical characteristics and boundaries for the neighborhoods. Districts in Kennewick are predominantly residential, commercial, or a mix of both. Even each residential district can be broken down into neighborhoods with each having its own unique characteristics. It is important to identify this uniqueness for each district. Kennewick’s urban design policies encourage mixed-use developments and neighborhood-based retail to serve the residential neighborhoods. A cohesive existence of different districts needs to be maintained by creating appropriate transition between the districts. Transition from commercial to residential districts can be done by softening the district boundaries with adequate landscaping, open spaces and buffers. Commercial districts in Kennewick are comprised of various retail and office activities. A vibrant, business-friendly commercial environment is important for Kennewick’s economic vitality. This can be achieved by public and private investments and appropriate design. The City’s Commercial Design Standards have been established to promote well-designed, pedestrian and business friendly commercial districts in Kennewick. Preserving and establishing the characters of residential neighborhoods are given prime importance in Kennewick. The Residential Design Standards guide the general design criteria for both single and multi-family residential developments. Residential districts may be further enhanced and established through neighborhood planning processes. Besides residential and commercial districts in Kennewick, others such as the Entertainment District and Downtown Historic District carry immense significance for Kennewick’s economy. Kennewick works with other stakeholders to establish distinctive characteristics for each of these. The Convention Center, Coliseum and Ice arena in the ---PAGE BREAK--- URBAN DESIGN City of Kennewick Comprehensive Plan Urban Design Technical Document 130 Entertainment District have created a regional entertainment hub. Memorandum of Understanding between the City and Kennewick Irrigation District, the other major property holders in the area, has been adopted to identify the district’s characteristics, design goals and objectives. The City is working with the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership (HDKP) to revitalize the downtown area. The City also takes part in the Main Street program to revitalize the Downtown area. The Bridge-to-Bridge River-to- Railroad area has been established north of Downtown. Some conceptual design and visioning was done for this area by the Urban Design Assistance Team in conjunction with some of the property owners and stake-holders in 2003. This consists of the waterfront area between the Blue Bridge to Cable Bridge west to east, and the railroad to the south. This effort was aimed to reconnect the Columbia River with the Downtown, and to add more riverfront amenities for Kennewick’s Downtown. The City recognizes the importance of this area and the efforts that have been made in the visioning process. The City plans to take a closer look at this area and aims to partner with all public and private stakeholders in order to develop a subarea plan for this area. ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY Kennewick is rich in natural resources, having mountains to the south and west, the Columbia River to the north, and located in a three-river (Yakima, Snake and Columbia) basin. These natural features emphasize Kennewick’s identity. The City recognizes the value of natural resources as a tool for quality development. Kennewick maintains a balance between built and natural environment. The balance is implemented through the conservation of energy and utility consumption, efficiency in the construction, and sensitivity to the ecology. The urban design policy recognizes that economic development should not occur at the cost of environmental debilitation. In order to utilize environmental resources for development, consideration will be given to preserving important view corridors, creating visual and physical access to the Columbia River, and preserving critical areas, shorelines and open spaces. LANDSCAPING Landscaping is one of the most important features for creating a nice urban environment. It should positively enhance the built environment and urban spaces, and integrate the man-made environment with the natural environment. It is important for landscaping to be reflective of local features, climate and vegetation. Given the hot-arid climate in the Tri-City area, native landscaping and planting is recommended. Since water conservation is important, selection of native plants that require less water for healthy maintenance is preferred. Xeriscape is highly encouraged in Kennewick as a method of landscaping. On one hand it represents the dry climate identity of the area, and on the other hand it conserves water. The City will implement these landscaping principles in the design of public parks and open spaces in order to encourage private property owners to implement similar landscaping principles. Selection of trees that offer shade in hot summer days is important for this area. The City plans to emphasize street corridor characteristics with appropriate street trees and streetscape options. The residential and commercial design standards establish the streetscape standards for commercial and residential streets. These design standards and the Kennewick Municipal Code have also established the landscaping guidelines for residential and commercial developments, parking lots, walkways and open spaces.