“We’re two to three years away, most likely, so we thought it was important to have some interim guidelines,” said Fairfield Development Services Director Greg Kathman.
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According to the proposal, design guideline changes will be modeled after the guidelines for downtown businesses. It applies to façade design and landscaping for new structures, or major remodeling projects that represent more than 33 percent of a building’s exterior.
Projects must incorporate 50 percent brick or stone to any façade facing a public road, and building owners should avoid metal or concrete block. Parking areas should be screened from the street by landscaping, and for large parking areas, it's recommended landscape islands be installed to break up pavement and reduce what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls the "heat island effect."
“These are not major guidelines that we’re recommending,” Kathman said.
Commercial-zoned areas include Symmes and Pleasant avenues, Pleasant and Magie avenues, Patterson Boulevard, southern Pleasant Avenue, Winton and Mack roads, Old Gilmore Road, Kolb Drive, and Boymel Drive.
“(They’re) not major corridors,” he said. “It’s other areas that are sprinkled throughout town.”
This is a recommendation that came out of the Fairfield Forward Comprehensive Plan that was completed last year.
“Should someone want to use materials or have an alternative design that doesn’t meet the design guidelines, they could go to the planning commission for consideration for relief,” Kathman said.
The city has zoning regulations about storage containers in residential districts, but not in its commercial district. These recommendations will not apply to the city’s industrial districts, Kathman said.
The proposal includes setting a maximum size of a storage container at 40 feet long by 10 feet wide by 10 feet high and prohibits vertical stacking. Also, any container cannot create a traffic hazard, either on- or off-site, and must be located on a hard, durable surface.
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Hazardous substances must be identified on the container’s exterior and no business operations will be permitted out of the container.
Temporary storage for new construction or remodeling is permitted up to 180 days, and is allowed in the front or parking lot. However, the container must be screened from street view in the rear of the business longer than 180 days, according to the proposal.
“It’s visually unappealing when these things are out in the front parking lot, or visible from the street,” Kathman said.
Planning Commission will consider the zoning changes at its July 8 meeting. It’s expected the commission will provide City Council with a recommendation at its July 13 meeting. Council will consider the changes on July 13 and July 27 before voting on the proposals.
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