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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/12/2005 Study Session Minutes TOWN OF MARANA STUDY SESSION MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 12, 2005 PLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall, March 12,2005. I. CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Sutton at 9:20 a.m. The study session was held informally and no official roll call was given. II. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS 1. Proposed Residential Design Standards discussion and Town Center Planning discussion by Vern Swaback & Associates Mr. Reuwsaat introduced the topics for consideration at the study session and noted that both items agendized would be discussed concurrently as one item. According to Mr. Reuwsaat, the purpose the study session was to present options and then solidifY what Council wants to see occur with residential design standards. Then the consultant would redraft what is currently before Council and bring it back for further review and discussion. Mayor Sutton reiterated that the study session was to resolve what Council likes and doesn't like in terms of building design for the town core as well as for all future developments in Marana. At this time, Vern Swaback recapped the history of his experience with standards and developer interests. Mr. Swaback stressed that Council's vision will represent commitment to the future; Council must direct the path of growth, not vice versa. What must dominate is a long-term vision of a sustainable community, noting that the demands of the community include diversity. Another factor should be to provide shared amenities, which can lower costs but not quality. Jeff Denzak, an associate with Swaback & Associates, further emphasized that agreed-upon standards are the foundation for future progress. The Swaback presentation focused on ideas to help bring the Council's vision together to eliminate the standard production house of all street-fronted garages and to integrate creativity into the unique community. The proposed standards would incorporate parks and open spaces into the overall design rather than use leftover or unusable parcels for park sites. Other features of the sustainable community plan included paths and trails to link neighborhoods and perimeter landscaping and walls as part of buffer zones that screen properties. Streetscapes and vehicle and pedestrian circulation patterns were also addressed as a necessary component to design standards. Further discussion was held regarding the need to prevent houses from looking boxy. Mr. Barr indicated that there was discrepancy between the elevations and the floor-plans which needed to be addressed. At this point in the session, Ms. Berlin indicated that staff must now deal with some important internal management issues in terms of when they would have an ordinance to go to public hearing. Mr. Reuwsaat said there was no reason they couldn't have them (consultants and developers) work with staff. It would be tough to come to a prescriptive set of standards where a TOWN OF MARANA STUDY SESSION MARANA TOWN HALL MARCH 12,2005 developer could come in and determine whether or not it would work. It was further noted that with the first few projects especially they would have to put the resources to it to make sure they were done right. As part of the issues they had identified it would include more information in terms of the architectural components so that they would have examples of what not to do. Mr. Reuwsaat said that they went with the NRP A standard. The concept was a combination of smaller nodes and the larger regional. The bottom line was that they would have to look at the standards. Mr. Denzak summarized the study session, noting that Swaback would provide the Town with copies of to day's information, of the consensus questions that the group agreed with, and they would continue to work with Town Staff as well as developers if requested. They would have a meeting coming up that would include information on Town Center elements such as transportation corridors. III. ADJOURNMENT The study session concluded by unanimous consent at II :40 a.m. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the study session held on February 15,2005. I further certify that a quorum was present. ~\"~~¡'}J~ ~~~\\,,,,,,'r!:j~~ sO§ ~ ~ :: .;;:, I CORPORATë" ~ -z: 000:1- - - - - s \~EALJ S ~"~~ ~'1~1Z 19;c, ~/JIIÙ~\\\\~