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areas where there is vehicular circulation, which is proposed to be limited to 25 feet in <br />height). <br />•Utility and Service Areas: Location and Design. The standards propose that utility areas <br />be located to comply with a 50-foot minimum distance from public street intersections <br />and from primary building entrances, and that sites narrower than 100 feet locate all <br />utilities and services farthest from public intersections and primary building entrances. <br />The standards also propose to establish screening requirements for service areas and <br />utilities visible from and located within 30 feet of a public right-of-way. <br />Architectural Features <br />This section focuses on building massing, building entries, window design, roofs and <br />parapets, materials and character, mixed-use and live/work active frontages, building <br />form/proportion/scale, building signage, and compatibility with surrounding development. <br />•Building Massing: Stepbacks and massing break. The amendments include two new <br />concepts to reduce the massing of large-scale buildings. Buildings taller than three <br />stories are required to provide a stepback at the uppermost story that is at least six feet <br />in depth and spans at least 80 percent of the building fa9ade length exclusive of the <br />massing break. A massing break is required when a building frontage exceeds 180 <br />linear feet and is required to: (1) have a minimum dimension of 15 feet and minimum <br />area of 250 square feet; and (2) begin at the ground level and extend to the top of the <br />structure. A diagram to illustrate these concepts has been added to the objective <br />standards. <br />•Building Entries: Location and proportion. Where the 2012 Housing DG require a <br />minimum of 75 percent of ground floor units that are within five feet of grade to have <br />entries onto a public street, internal streets, paseo, or open space, the proposed <br />changes would require: (1) all primary building entrances to front a public street, internal <br />street, or common open space; and (2) all ground floor units located within four feet of <br />grade to have individual entries directly from public streets, internal streets, paseos, or <br />common open spaces. The standards also establish proportional requirements for the <br />entries such that they are in scale to the building frontage and establish that individual <br />unit entries may encroach into a front setback by 50 percent. <br />•Building Entries: Fencing. The proposed amendments would require that unit entry <br />features with direct access to pedestrian walks or public sidewalks provide a low fence, <br />screen, or landscaping (not to exceed three feet in height) to transition the public space <br />to a private space; this concept is a guideline in the 2012 Housing DG. <br />•Window Design: Recess/trim, sizing, and shading. Only guidelines regarding window <br />treatments are presented in the 2012 Housing DG. The proposed amendments would <br />require that windows be recessed at least two inches from the plane of the exterior <br />building fa9ade or provide a trim material that contrasts with the surrounding wall <br />material for at least two sides of the window perimeter. Another standard would require <br />that each building provide differing window sizes such that the hierarchy of living and <br />public spaces are distinguished. And a third standard would require that at least 50 <br />percent of windows on south-facing elevation provide sun shading. <br />P20-0989, Objective Design Standards Planning Commission <br />10 of 14