19.16.08 Office Warehouse, Heavy Commercial, Light Industrial, and Industrial Additional Standards

In addition to the non-residential requirements of this Chapter, developments in the Office Warehouse, Heavy Commercial, Light Industrial and Industrial Zones and all buildings that are larger than 15,000 sq. ft. in area and wider than 200’ on the front elevation shall be subject to the additional standards below: 1. “Warehouse/Flex” Use Standards. a. Each tenant shall designate at least 10 percent of the floor area for office and/or retail use. The required office and/or retail area may be divided among multiple levels. For example, if 10 percent of the floor area equals 10,000 square feet this area may be split over multiple stories. 2. Additional Architectural Standards. a. All buildings shall have architectural elements to provide visual interest and reduce the perceived mass of the building. Both horizontal and vertical articulation is required on all sides of the building. i. Horizontal articulation is required every 50 feet, minimum, along the face of the primary façade, every 75 feet minimum along the sides or secondary façade(s), and every 200 feet minimum along the rear or loading façade. This variation shall include the following: 1. Modulate the facade by stepping portions of the building in or out horizontally to create shadow lines and visually delineate areas of the building. For facades 200 feet or longer a minimum horizontal articulation of three feet is required. For facades less than 200 feet, two-foot horizontal articulation is required. 2. Building corners shall be highlighted through articulated masses at the corners to provide visual interest by incorporating a minimum projection of two feet in depth that spans at least 30 feet in horizontal length and the full height of building. 3. Add visual interest by distinctly changing the texture and color of wall surfaces at building entryways and corner elements. b. Building entryways shall be clearly identifiable with distinct materials and design features. i. Primary building entryways shall have an amenity zone extending a minimum of fifteen feet in front of the building entry and be a minimum of thirty feet long. These areas shall be concrete or pavers and provide space for outdoor seating, landscape planters, and other staff or visitor amenities. ii. Building entryways shall include a prominent window wall or storefront system to clearly indicate the entryway. iii. Provide overhead projections such as roof elements, covered entrances, trellises, or pergolas at primary building entryways. These elements shall extend a minimum of five-feet from the primary building façade and shall extend a minimum of five-feet on either side of the entryway. iv. The architectural features at building entrances shall also include at least three of the following features: 1. A parapet or wall element that extends above the primary wall; 2. Awnings or canopies; 3. Horizontal articulation of a minimum of three feet at building entryways (this articulation shall extend a minimum of ten feet on either side of the doorway); 4. Distinct material at the entryway; or 5. Decorative lighting highlighting the entryway. v. Buildings with multiple entrances shall employ the features above at all public entryway locations. Distinct unit or business entryways should be clearly distinguished from the site entry. c. All Buildings shall include variation in roof height and appropriately sized parapets to obscure rooftop equipment from view. i. All roofs shall be flat and shall be screened with parapets on all sides of the building. The parapet height shall be sized to visually obscure any rooftop equipment from the pedestrian view from public and private streets. Where this is not viable, a screen or wall system shall be used to block rooftop equipment from view. ii. Roof profiles shall have a minimum of two feet of vertical articulation aligned with the horizontal articulation - to create distinct building masses and reduce the perceived scale of the overall facade. Horizontally articulated corner elements must extend two feet above the primary roof parapet. iii. Lower roof elements, trellises, awnings, and other architectural shade elements are required to create visual interest and provide a human scale. These shall be located over all main entries and extend a minimum of 5 feet from the facade. d. The building façade facing public street frontage shall include large glass windows on the street level and smaller windows on the upper floors. i. Opaque, heavily tinted, or reflective glass shall not be used on the first floor of a building facing a public street. ii. Buildings fronting a public street shall provide glass at a minimum of 25 percent of the façade area on the first floor and a minimum of 10 percent of the upper floor facing the street. iii. Where a building is located on a corner lot, the secondary street-facing façade shall have a minimum of 15 percent glass on the first floor and 10 percent on the upper floor(s). iv. All facades shall have a minimum of five percent windows, including the receiving and loading areas. v. For purposes of determining the glass area, the first floor shall be the first 15 feet from the finished floor, and each full fifteen feet of height above the first floor shall be considered an upper floor. e. Building materials shall be high-quality and durable to reflect the quality of Saratoga Springs. i. A minimum of 20% of the primary façade shall be clad in high-quality materials such as brick masonry, natural stone, or architectural metal panel. 10% of all other façades should also include on or more of these materials for visual interest and quality. 1. Masonry and stone 2. Integral color CMU 3. High-quality concrete systems 4. Finished and treated tilt-up concrete panels 5. Architectural metal panel ii. No more than 75% of any building facade shall consist of any one material or color. iii. No more than 20% of any façade shall be clad in corrugated metal. iv. Articulated corner and entry features shall have a distinct color or material feature. v. Office Warehouse and Heavy Commercial developments with more than one building shall be designed with different, but complementary colors and materials on each building to provide architectural variety. vi. Primary colors should be of a neutral color palette but contrast in tone to enhance visual interest. Tones highlighted in green would be approved as they are significantly contrasting in tone. The tones highlighted in red are too similar in tone to each other. vii. Accent colors may be used to support a business brand, or highlight key architectural features or elements. Accent colors shall be complementary to the overall building color palette and shall be limited to 8% of the area of the façade. Artwork, signage and awnings as approved by the Land Use Authority are exempt from this standard. 19.16.09. Mixed Use and Mixed Waterfront Site, Additional Standards. In addition to the residential and/or non-residential requirements of this Chapter, developments in the Mixed Use and Mixed Waterfront Zones shall be subject to the additional standards below: 1. Purpose. To achieve the purposes in Section 19.04 the mixed-use and mixed waterfront standards are to enable developments that are designed to: a. Promote a strong pedestrian environment and active street frontage, and be pedestrian in focus through appropriately scaled elements and materials. b. Locate mixed uses near each other without large parking lots between, in order to be convenient for people to walk rather than drive between uses. c. Provide a transition from commercial to residential uses by reducing building height and increasing building setbacks where possible. d. Ensure consistent and quality architectural details and materials. e. Ensure security for users by: i. Maximizing visibility to common open space areas, internal walkways, and public sidewalks. ii. Using walkways, low fences, lighting, signage, and landscaping to clearly guide people and vehicles to and from the proper entrances. iii. Eliminating areas of concealment, hiding places, and dead spaces. iv. Using appropriate lighting to improve the visibility of common areas while enhancing the pedestrian environment. 2. Additional Architectural Standards. a. Pedestrian-oriented features. i. At least 75 percent of the building frontage facing a public street, primary pedestrian way, or parking lot shall be devoted to pedestrian-oriented features (e.g., storefronts, pedestrian entrances to nonresidential uses; transparent display windows; landscaping). ii. 50 percent of the ground level building façade shall be devoted to windows affording view into the interior of the building. b. Upper level features. Upper floor balconies, bays, or windows shall be provided on multiple story buildings. c. Entrances. When nonresidential and residential uses are located in a vertical mixed use structure, separate pedestrian entrances shall be provided for each use. i. The entrances for nonresidential uses shall be designed to be visually distinct from the entrances for residential uses. d. Entrances to individual residential units in a vertical mixed-use project shall not be allowed along a street frontage. Instead, shared entrances to residential units located above the ground floor shall be from lobbies that serve multiple units. Façade treatment. All sides of a building that are open to public view (including views from adjacent residential dwellings or probable location of residential dwellings) shall receive equal architectural design consideration as the building front. 3. Additional Site Design Standards. a. Parking, loading, and circulation. i. Parking facilities shall be separated for nonresidential uses and residential uses, except that guest parking for residential uses may be shared with nonresidential uses. ii. If enclosed parking, including parking garages and structures, is provided for residential and nonresidential portions of a mixed-use project, separate areas/levels shall be provided for each use and separate entrances shall be provided. b. Loading areas. Loading areas for nonresidential uses shall be located as far as possible from residential units and shall be completely screened from view from the residential portion of the project and public streets. Loading areas shall be compatible in architectural design and details with the overall project through the use of at least two out of three materials and colors used in the overall project. The location and design of loading areas shall mitigate nuisances from noise when residential uses might be impacted. c. Vehicular circulation. i. Vehicular circulation shall be designed to direct non-residential traffic away from adjacent residential streets outside the mixed use districts, to the greatest extent feasible. ii. Roadways are prohibited between the waterway and buildings nearest the waterway. d. Pedestrian design. i. Developments shall provide enhanced pedestrian amenities throughout the project, including seating, pedestrian area lighting, special paving, public art, water features, common open space, directories, and similar items to create a pleasant pedestrian experience. e. Mixed Use Layout. i. Separate site access driveways shall be provided, whenever possible, for nonresidential and residential uses. Site access driveways shall incorporate distinctive design elements, landscape features, and signs to help differentiate access to nonresidential parking areas from access to residential parking areas. ii. For vertical mixed use projects, only nonresidential uses shall be located on the ground floor along public/private street frontages. Residential uses may be located above the ground floor and in areas that do not have frontage on a street. Up to 20 percent of the ground floor frontage may be occupied by lobby entrances to multiple residential units and pedestrian amenities (e.g., plaza, paseo, or courtyard). f. A prominent entrance shall be oriented to the major street on which the structure has frontage, street corner, courtyard, plaza, park, or other structures on the site, but not to interior blocks or parking lots/structures. g. Live/work units, dwelling units that are used jointly for commercial and residential purposes, shall be designed with the following elements: i. Each live/work unit fronting a public street shall have a pedestrian-oriented frontage that allows views into the interior of the nonresidential areas of the unit. ii. The living space within the live/work unit shall be contiguous with the commercial space, with direct access between the two areas. 4. Operational standards. a. Outdoor nonresidential uses in a mixed-use project that includes residential uses shall be prohibited from operating between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. b. Loading and unloading activities shall not take place after 10:00 P.M. or before 6:00 A.M. on any day of the week. 19.16.10. Waterfront Buffer and Gateway Overlays, Additional Standards In addition to the residential and/or non-residential requirements of this Chapter, developments in the Waterfront Buffer Overlay and/or the Gateway Overlay shall be subject to the additional standards below: 1. Building standards: a. Height and setbacks for buildings and structures that exceed 35 feet in height. i. Waterfront Buffer facing building façades for floors above 35 feet in height shall be set back an additional 5 feet from the floors below. Each additional floor shall be set back an additional 5 feet. b. Ground floor transparency: i. The building façade facing the Waterfront Buffer or Gateway Overlay arterial and collector streets shall have at least 50 percent of the waterfront level façade area devoted to display windows and/or windows affording some view into the interior areas. ii. Multi-family residential buildings with no main floor lobby area, and/or no retail or office space are exempt. c. Prohibited building materials: i. High gloss or shiny metal panels as a primary material. ii. Mirror glass panels. d. Entrances: i. Entrances in the Waterfront Buffer Overlay shall be as prominent on any waterfront side of a building as on the street side. ii. Entrances shall be placed so as to be highly visible. e. Building Façades Treatment i. Façades on the Waterfront Buffer or Gateway Overlay arterial or collector street shall be pedestrian scale, and not give the appearance of the back of a building. ii. All sides of a mixed use, multi-family, or non-residential building that are open to public view (including views from adjacent residential dwellings, trails, or probable location of residential dwellings) shall receive equal architectural design consideration as the building front. 2. View corridor: Each Waterfront Buffer development shall provide at least one 50’ wide view corridor for every 3 acres of development. View corridors shall be kept free of structures and other obstructions, and shall extend from the water through the entirety of the development generally perpendicular to the water. (see figure 16.1) Figure 16.1