Tag: form-based code

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Month in Review

Month in Review – June 2014

We Are Walnut Hills 3UrbanCincy‘s most popular stories in June were clear signs of the progress being made in Cincinnati. While a modest number of new residents have been added over the past four years, the urban core and surrounding neighborhoods continue to grow with new residential developments.

Two of the stories (#2 and #5) are in sharp contrast: while Cincinnati received national praise for its form-based code efforts, Norwood missed an opportunity and ended up with an auto-oriented development in its core.

As you enjoy your Independence Day weekend, we invite you to catch up on our top stories from June that you may have missed:

    1. Cincinnati Posts Population Gain for Second Consecutive Year
      The city has added about 1,000 new residents since 2010.
    2. Cincinnati Wins National Planning Award for Form-Based Code
      Jocelyn Gibson reports back from her trip to the 22nd Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU).
    3. New Apartments, Retail Space Coming to Peeble’s Corner in Walnut Hills
      “The whole goal here is to create a concentrated effort, like what 3CDC has done in Over-the-Rhine, and reach that critical mass in Walnut Hills.”
    4. Work on $30M Corryville Apartment Project On-Pace for Fall 2015 Completion
      Uptown Cincinnati continues to molt and grow, and Randy Simes reports on the latest 300-bed Uptown Rental Properties development.
    5. Paycor’s Brand New Headquarters in Norwood Misses the Mark
      In a guest editorial, Norwood resident James Bonsall explains that the latest phase of the Linden Pointe on the Lateral development turns its back on bikes and pedestrians.

 

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The UrbanCincy Podcast

Episode #35: CNU 22

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk introduces the award.

On the 35th episode of The UrbanCincy Podcast, John and Jocelyn join Travis to discuss their trip to the 22nd Annual Congress for the New Urbanism. We hear about several of the sessions they attended, and also hear several audio clips recorded at CNU, including Cincinnati’s acceptance of the grand prize for Best Planning Tool or Process.

This episode is a little longer than usual, but stay tuned until the end, when John and Jocelyn tell the story of their unusual and eventful trip to Buffalo.

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Business Development News

CNU22: Cincinnati Wins National Planning Award for Form-Based Code

College Hill FBC Vision [Provided]

The City of Cincinnati’s Department of Planning & Buildings has been on a roll lately. This past weekend in Buffalo, at the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) national conference, the city won its third national award of the year for its new form-based code.

CNU’s grand prize for the Best Planning Tool or Process was actually a tie and thus jointly awarded to Cincinnati for its form-based code (FBC) and Station Center, a transit-oriented development in Union City, California.

As first reported by UrbanCincy, the Department of Planning & Buildings was honored with the Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan at the American Planning Association’s (APA) national conference in Atlanta.  Additionally, in late 2013, the Department won the Ohio APA’s award for Comprehensive Planning for a Large Jurisdiction.

In 2012, city leaders were also awarded with the Frank F. Ferris II Community Planning Award from the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.

In addition to city staff and thousands of Cincinnatians, those involved in developing Cincinnati’s award-winning FBC included Opticos Design, Hall Planning & Engineering, Urban Design Associates, glaserworks, Wise Economy Workshop, and Urban Fast Forward.

“It is an honor for us to have our code recognized by an organization that is on the cutting edge of best practices with regard to planning tools and good urbanism,” said Alex Peppers, senior city planner for Cincinnati. “We put a lot of work into developing a code that would fit our context and assets.”

What makes Cincinnati’s FBC unique is that it is a voluntary tool for neighborhoods who seek to preserve the character of their centers of activity and historic business districts. Thus far, it has been adopted in College Hill, Madisonville, Walnut Hills and Westwood.

Jurors noted that they were particularly impressed by the code’s extensive photo documentation and mapping analysis that calibrated the code’s application, and reinforced the unique characteristics of Cincinnati’s urban neighborhoods.

“The Cincinnati code is an excellent example of that advancement in the deployment of SmartCode, with particular attention paid to public process, neighborhood structure and graphic presentation,” explained Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, one of CNU’s award jurors. “It reinforces Cincinnati’s historic urban patterns with guidance for appropriate infill and predictable redevelopment building.”

The final draft of Cincinnati’s form-based code is available online and can be accessed here.

On the twelfth official episode of The UrbanCincy Podcast, we were joined by Roxanne Qualls to discuss Cincinnati’s development and implementation of form-based codes. You can subscribe to The UrbanCincy Podcast on iTunes for free.

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The UrbanCincy Podcast

Episode #33: Westwood Square

Westwood SquareOn the 33rd episode of The UrbanCincy Podcast, John and Travis are joined by John Lewandowski, the Artistic & Executive Director for Madcap Puppets. We discuss the Westwood Square project that was designed as part of the city’s form-based code charrette process, and the new Madcap theatre that will be located at the new square.

For more information on form-based codes, you may want to listen to Episode 12 of The UrbanCincy Podcast, where we discussed the topic with then-Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.

 

Categories
Development News

Cincinnati Leaders Approve City’s Third Form-Based Code in Walnut Hills

Walnut Hills

Last week Cincinnati City Council approved the form-based code for Walnut Hills. The unanimous vote marks the third neighborhood to adopt this new regulatory tool for neighborhood redevelopment. Yet even after several years of development, many do not understand the basics about the new land use planning tool.

First of all, a form-based code is type of regulation that is developed by community stakeholders to guide future development or redevelopment of a community. Under a form-based code, new developments are typically configured to mesh with the character of the community’s vision.

Form-based codes get their name because it creates a type of regulation that typically focuses more on the form of the building and its relation to the public realm (i.e. the street) rather than the usage of the building. Development under the code occurs “by-right” and means if a new development complies with all the code’s provisions it can be built without having to go through the extensive and sometimes drawn-out process of traditional development.

Over 700 American cities have adopted some type of a form-based code, with Miami being the largest city to completely adopt this type of code. Near by they have been used in Nashville and Columbus to spark development in revitalizing areas of their inner cities.

Former Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls (D) championed this movement locally and actually led groups of local officials and business leaders to Nashville to study the results of their form-based codes in 2008 and 2012.

While some cities have used these tools to encourage pedestrian friendly, mixed-use developments where none exist, older more established cities such as Cincinnati have opted to implement them in order to ensure that new development integrates seamlessly into the historic charm and character of the city.

Bellevue, KY became the first municipality in the Cincinnati region to adopt this type of regulation in 2011.

Cincinnati first began pursuing the idea of developing a form-based code in 2009. After receiving funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, city staff selected Opticos to lead in developing the new code. Dan Parolek, principal of Opticos, wrote the book on form-based codes, quite literally.

After conducting a city-wide charrette in May 2012, the City of Cincinnati worked with Opticos to refine the code and prepare it for adoption. The form-based code was adopted in early 2013. From there staff from the city’s planning department worked closely with neighborhoods to craft the regulating plan map.

Four neighborhoods were included in the initial implementation schedule: Madisonville, College Hill, Westwood and Walnut Hills. Both Madisonville and College Hill have fully adopted the code with Walnut Hills being the latest. Westwood appears to be the next neighborhood poised to adopt the code after winning unanimous support from the city’s Planning Commission in December 2013.