Finding The Right Path Through Design Review
Municipalities—searching for ways to better shape development — must tailor their approach to the community’s size and professional resources.
Kaizer Rangwala
Kaizer Rangwala, AICP, CEcD, CNU-A, is the founding principal of Rangwala Associates, and a member of the board of directors of the Form-Based Codes Institute, which seeks to advance the knowledge and use of form-based codes.
Assessing Criticisms Of Form-Based Codes
By their very nature FBCs faces many hurdles. Over the last century, we have separated zoning standards from physical planning, leaving out place-making. FBCs are now trying to make up for this all at once. The planner’s concern is we don’t have the capability to do it in-house and the money for consultants has dried up. We have to overcome the legacy of the planning system we have inherited and undergo a generational shift.
Why Design Guidelines, On Their Own, Don’t Work
A key barrier to protecting and creating distinctive places is lack of clear and precise place-based standards and a predictable review process. Design guidelines are difficult to apply consistently. They offer too much room for subjective interpretation. Design guidelines are difficult to enforce. A developer can legally refuse to comply putting at risk the larger collective investments of neighboring properties. Design Guidelines require oversight by discretionary review bodies, leading to a protracted and politicized planning process that can cost time and money.
Fatima Ali-Salaam
Patricia Wallace
EUNICE MARQUEZ
Carlos Gaivoto
