Sec. 656.399.34. - Building Design.

The following standards are for building design of non residential building types, subject to Chapter 307 requirements, where applicable. (1) Building frontage. Building frontages shall occupy no less than 80 percent of a corridor within a Commercial Character Area or Urban Transition Character Area. If site constraints exist, a knee wall may be constructed with the following provisions. (a) Only 25 percent of the required frontage may be credited as part of a knee wall. (b) A knee wall must be constructed as described in Section 656.399.29 (8). (2) Public entrance. Buildings that are open to the public shall have an entrance for pedestrians from the street to the building interior. This entrance shall be designed to be attractive and functionally be a distinctive and prominent element of the architectural design, and shall be open to the public during business hours. Buildings shall incorporate lighting and changes in mass, surface or finish to give emphasis to the entrances. (3) Nonresidential Buildings Mass and Scale. Buildings that are more than 150 feet in length shall comply with the following. No more than 60 feet of horizontal distance of wall shall be provided without architectural relief a minimum of 30 feet wide and three feet deep for building walls and frontage walls facing the street. Variation of Mass and Scale (4) Building Facade. Buildings shall provide a foundation or base, typically from ground to bottom of the lower windowsills, with changes in volume or material. A clear visual division shall be maintained between the ground level floor and upper floors with either a cornice line or awning from 12 feet to 16 feet above Base Flood Elevation or grade, whichever applies to the proposed development. (5) Building Features. All buildings excluding single family detached homes shall utilize at least three of the following design features to provide visual relief along all elevations of the building: (a) Divisions or breaks in materials (materials should be drawn from a common palette). (b) Window bays. (c) Separate entrances and entry treatments, porticoes extending at least five feet. (d) Variation in roof lines. (e) Awnings installed in increments of 15 feet or less. (f) Dormers. (g) Canopies, extending at least five feet. (h) Overhang extending at least five feet. (i) Recessed entries (at least three feet from the primary facade). (j) Protruding entries (at least three feet from the primary facade). (k) Covered porch entries. (6) Storefront character. Commercial and mixed-use buildings shall express a storefront character. This guideline is met by providing all of the following architectural features along the building frontage as applicable. (a) Corner building entrances on corner lots. (b) Regularly spaced and similar-shaped windows with window hoods or trim (all building stories). (c) Large display windows on the ground floor. All street-facing, park-facing and plaza-facing structures shall have windows covering a minimum of 40 percent and a maximum 80 percent of the ground floor of each storefront's linear frontage. Blank walls shall not occupy over 50 percent of a street-facing frontage and shall not exceed 30 linear feet without being interrupted by a window or entry. Mirrored glass, obscured glass and glass block cannot be used in meeting this requirement. Display windows may be used to meet this requirement if the first floor has not been designed as a flood proof first floor. (7) Orientation. The primary building entrances shall be visible and directly accessible from a public street. Building massing such as tower elements shall be used to call-out the location of building entries. (8) Lighting. All buildings shall have exterior lightings and shall be self contained to that building without glare or shine onto other areas of the site. (Ord. 2008-192-E, § 3)