Community Code
The Community Code seeks to improve the urban fabric of the Capital City through an increased emphasis on the public realm. The Code will apply to the entire 18 mi2 area known as the Multimodal District, where the City of Tallahassee and Leon County have committed to planning primarily for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit rather than for automobiles. This will include design standards that: improve urban design, promote in-town amenities and destinations, increase bicycle and pedestrian mobility, and support the parallel efforts of StarMetro.  The changes proposed in the Community Code reflect public comments voiced in the past several years, namely in various sector and neighborhood plans, calling for increased attention to these issues. The South has a great urban history, full of thriving cities such as Savannah, New Orleans, Richmond, and Charleston, the designs of which are studied and often emulated. Imagine the bustling downtown districts full of shops and restaurants, lazy green plazas and squares, sidewalks lined with moss-draped live oaks, and landscaped boulevards. These are the envisioned goals of the Community Code. Community Code will employ many tenets of New Urbanism and form-based codes. Emphasis will focus on the built environment, thus removing the uncertainty neighbors feel over proposed adjacent projects. Setbacks will be reduced so buildings line the streets. Parking areas shall be placed internal to the block and on-street parking will be promoted.  Streets will be designed as the equal domain of pedestrian, cyclist, and driver alike.  Trees will line the street, buffering pedestrians and offering shade on hot days. Wider sidewalks, on both sides of the street, will be an asset to local business owners. Special emphasis is also being placed within the Downtown Overlay, which has block by block standards for things such as setbacks, sidewalk coverage, and height. Lastly, these design standards complement mass transit as an alternative to roadway congestion. With a more compact development pattern in the urban core, StarMetro can increase headways and better serve the citizens of Tallahassee.	Additional Information Draft Ordinance: see pg. 125-172  [Updated 9.1.10] MMTD and Downtown Overlay Map Downtown Overlay Page Downtown Overlay and Community Code Presentation MMTD Summary Community Code Summary How Do These Projects Fit Together?      Proposed Downtown Overlay Map Series Central North & East South West
Meeting Schedules General February 15, 2010 Public Workshop at Renaissance Building, 2nd Floor Conference Room Monday, 6:00-7:30pm February 22, 2010 Public Workshop at Renaissance Building, 2nd Floor Conference Room Monday, 6:00-7:30pm February 25, 2010 Planning Commission Retreat: Presentation and Open Discussion Thursday, 11:00am-12:30pm July 13, 2010 Planning Commission Workshop - Open to the Public Tuesday, 4:00-7:00 PM August 3, 2010 Planning Commission Public Hearing [The Planning Commission found the Ordinance consistent with Comprehensive Plan and Recommended the City Commission adopt] Tuesday, 6:00 PM Ordinance #10-O-14 - Creating the Community Code New Date: October 27, 2010 City Commission 1st Public Hearing City Hall, 2nd Floor Commission Chambers 300 South Adams Street Wednesday, 6:00 PM New Date: November 23, 2010 City Commission 2nd Public Hearing City Hall, 2nd Floor Commission Chambers 300 South Adams Street Tuesday, 6:00 PM
As always, please feel free to Tell Us What You Think at any time. For more information, please contact the Community Code Project Manager, Zach Galloway, at zach.galloway@talgov.com or (850)891-6400.