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<br />Citl~,Pfi2.i supported the
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<br />part hecazcse o f the
<br />oen.erozrs prnvisivn n f
<br />$200 million, mixed-use development in Con-
<br />tra Costa County, California. For two de-
<br />cades, neighborhood opposition had stalled
<br />the proposed public-private venture on a 20-
<br />acre site adjacent to the Pleasant Hill station
<br />on the Bay Area Rapid Transit line. The plan
<br />this project was developed by Lennertz
<br />yle 8: Associates of Portland, Oregon.
<br />The code, and the elaborate public involve-
<br />ment that led up to it, created a level of crust
<br />that led ro approval of the project in Decem-
<br />iier 2001. The project is now moving Forward
<br />under the direction of architect Dan Parolek,
<br />~f Opticos Design in Eerkeley, California.
<br />Stephen Lawton, the communiry develop-
<br />ment director of Hercules, another Contra
<br />costa Counnr communiry, credits the stream-
<br />ined nature of form-based coding with help-
<br />ng the city to deal with a backlog of develop-
<br />nentproposals. Dover Kohl A Partners' Central
<br />-Iercules plan is shaping several new mixed-
<br />ise neighborhoods on a patchwork of
<br />rrownfield sites.
<br />Says Lawton: "The clarity of the form-
<br />~ased code made it easy for citizens to under-
<br />tand the development proposals and to ac-
<br />eptthe intensiq~ ofgrowth needed to achieve
<br />:nancial stability. This was something we'd
<br />ever have been able to achieve with conven-
<br />onal zoning."
<br />To date, most form-based codes have been
<br />4ed individually 1I1 response to the needs
<br />,pecific community or site. Now comes a
<br />ew generation of standardized Form-based
<br />ides, vrhich are derived from the SmartCode,
<br />template developed by DPZ and licensed by
<br />Ie Municipal Code Corporation in Talla-
<br />assee, Florida.
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<br />preconfigured (bur customizable) zones based
<br />on the "transect"-a framework for organiz-
<br />ing a metropolitan area into a series of zones,
<br />ranging Erom most natural to most urban.
<br />One of the first communities to take this
<br />new approach is Petaluma, California, ~s~hich
<br />adopted a variation of the SmartCode in July
<br />2003. Laura Hall of Fisher & Hall Urban
<br />Design in Santa Rosa and Paul Crawford,
<br />FAICP, of Crawford Multari c~ Clark in San
<br />Luis Obispo tailored the document to the
<br />city's needs; it focuses On a 400-acre portion
<br />of the downtown.
<br />According. to Hall, Petaluma adopted the
<br />code in just nine months, after aseven-year
<br />effort to complete and adopt a more conven-
<br />tional, use-based downtown plan and zoning
<br />ordinance. Over $100 million in develop-
<br />menthas been approved since the code's adop-
<br />tion, she says.
<br />(a.Ilifr~t•ttiil ntri frnui
<br />As more communities begin to incorporate
<br />New Urbanist and smart growth principles
<br />into their planning strategies, the practice of
<br />form-based coding i likely to spread.
<br />How much that will happen depends on
<br />several Factors: the availabilirv of qualified
<br />consultants (just a handful of firms practice
<br />true form-based coding); the dissemination
<br />of knowledge about die technique (little has
<br />been written on the subject, and there are
<br />few places to learn about it); and a continu-
<br />ing legal concern about overly prescriptive
<br />design guidelines that are often mistaken for
<br />form-based codes.
<br />The good nevus is that the state of Califor-
<br />niarecently included an endorsement ofform-
<br />The document refers to the code as a "useful
<br />implementation measure for achieving cer-
<br />taingeneral plan goals, such as walkable neigh-
<br />borhoods and mixed-use and transit-oriented
<br />development."And this surnmer,.Gov. Arnold
<br />Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 1265,
<br />malung California the first state to specifically
<br />enable the practice of form-based develop-
<br />ment regulation.
<br />The bill's language is brief and to the point:
<br />"The teat and diagrams in the laud use ele-
<br />ment (of the general plan] that address the
<br />location and extent of land uses, and the
<br />zoning ordinances that implement these pro-
<br />visions, may also express cominunit3r inten-
<br />tions regarding urban form and design. These
<br />expressions may differentiate neighborhoods,
<br />districts, and corridors, provide for a mixture
<br />of land uses and housing types within each,
<br />and provide specific measures far regulating
<br />relationships between buildings and outdoor
<br />public areas, including streets."
<br />As states such as Florida andArizona follow
<br />California's lead in mandating local planning
<br />through the use of a general plan, zoning
<br />consistent with the plan, and the ttse of spe-
<br />cific plans, one can hope that d7e practice of
<br />form-based coding and the enabling laws that
<br />support it will not be far behind.
<br />Peter Katz is a consultant nn New Urbanist imple-
<br />mentation and development, who is based in Alexan-
<br />dria, \/ir~inia. He teaches planning az Virginia Tech's
<br />Alexandria campus and is d1e author of The Neu
<br />Clrbarzirrn: Toiuard OM ,^l )'Cl7FfCC1.YITP o_f Comrnuniry,
<br />puhlished by McGraw-Hill in 1993.
<br />For a list oFresources concerning form-based cod-
<br />ing, go ro APA's website: wti~~,plannino.org.
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