§ 21.42.060. BCE Business Corridor Enhancement district.

A.

Purpose. The BCE Business Corridor Enhancement district is designed to increase commercial and certain residential opportunities and to promote and encourage mixed use while protecting the aesthetic and visual character of lands adjacent to the major business corridors by encouraging and better articulating positive commercial and certain residential design guidelines along commercial corridors, protecting adjacent uses from the impacts of commercial development, and providing for the safe and efficient use of adjacent roadway corridors.

B.

Uses.

1.

Uses that may be permitted in the BCE district are set forth in the table of uses for commercial and industrial districts in Chapter 21.48.

2.

In the BCE district any non-residential use over twenty-five thousand square feet gross floor area requires special exception approval.

C.

Development Standards.

1.

Chapter 21.50 contains the bulk regulations table for the BCE district.

2.

Design Standards. Where development is subject to Site Design Plan Review, the following design standards shall apply in addition to the general standards set forth in Chapter 21.62.

a.

The site shall be planned to accomplish a desirable transition with the streetscape and to provide for adequate planting, safe pedestrian movement, and parking areas.

b.

Parking areas shall be treated with decorative elements, building wall extensions, plantings, berms, or other innovative means so as to screen parking areas from view from public ways.

c.

Newly installed utility services and service revisions necessitated by exterior alterations shall be underground.

d.

Streetscape improvements shall be designed to be consistent with all standards in this section, and shall be reviewed for aesthetic functionality and compatibility with the prevailing character.

e.

Height. Except in the case of multi-family dwellings, the following standards apply:

i.

The variation between the height of a new building and the height of adjacent buildings should not vary by more than one story from any existing adjacent building within thirty feet.

ii.

A building in excess of forty-five feet should be set back fifty feet from the front line and fifty feet from the rear lot line.

3.

Site Access Criteria.

a.

The proposed development project shall be designed to minimize left turn movements or conflicts on the site and in the street.

b.

Driveways should be designed to achieve clear sight lines.

c.

Site access and circulation should conform whenever feasible to the following standards in this subsection. However, the Planning and Zoning Director may in his/her discretion modify the site access criteria for sites developed for uses in the BCE district based on the adjacent road configuration, the location and constraints of the specific site and the nature and density of the proposed uses and structures.

i.

Where a site or lot has frontage on two or more roads, the access to the site should be provided to the site from the lower classified road, unless there is less potential for traffic congestion and for hazards to traffic and pedestrian movement from the higher classified road.

ii.

Where necessary to safeguard against hazards to traffic and pedestrians and/or to avoid traffic congestion, provisions shall be made for turning lanes, traffic directional islands, service roads, driveways and traffic controls within the road. It is the further objective of the BCE district to minimize curb cuts and driveways by denying direct access for new lots.

iii.

Access driveways should be designed with sufficient capacity to avoid queuing of entering vehicles on any road or street.

iv.

Where topographic and other conditions are reasonably usable, provision shall be made for circulation driveway connections to adjoining lots of similar existing or potential use when such driveway connections will facilitate fire protection services or will enable the public to travel between two existing or potential uses without need to travel on a street.

v.

There should be no more than one driveway connection from any site or lot to any street, except where separate entrances and exit driveways may be necessary to safeguard against hazards and to avoid congestion. Additional driveways shall also be considered for large tracts and uses of extensive scope, if traffic flow on adjacent roads will be facilitated by the additional connections.

vi.

Each access driveway shall be located and designed so as to cause the least practical interference with the use of adjacent property and with the movement of pedestrian or vehicular traffic.

vii.

Access driveway widths shall have the following dimensions:

(A)

A minimum of twelve feet for all one-way driveways, not to exceed fifteen feet.

(B)

A minimum of twenty-four feet for all two-way driveways; not to exceed twenty-five feet.

viii.

A design objective within the BCE district is to allow no more than two driveways for each two hundred feet of street frontage on any lot. When a site is developed or redeveloped in the BCE district, excess driveways shall be eliminated or relocated when possible to achieve this objective. Circulation driveways are encouraged to minimize excess curb cuts and driveways.

D.

Additional Standards. Reserved.

E.

Uses Deemed Conforming. Uses existing on October 11, 1993 are deemed conforming for the purposes of expansion, pursuant to Section 21.68.030 of this Zoning Code. Single-family residential attached and detached dwellings and two-family dwellings may be expanded for residential use if the expansion otherwise meet the requirements of the R2 district, including the setback and height limitations in accordance with single-family detached dwellings.

(Ord. O-1-04 Revised (part), 2005)

(Ord. No. O-25-11 Amended, § I, 6-10-2013)