6/6/2018 PLANNING BOARD Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Almeida described places like Back Bay Boston and parts of New York City as form based, creating a walkable space with sidewalks and open space. Mr. Lehrer asked Mr. Almeida how form based code would apply to Mashpee. Mr. Almeida stated that the Town's preference for more or less density would be determined through form based code. Mr. Almeida emphasized that it was likely that the Town would want rural areas to preserve their character, and would not encourage urban development in those areas and more business or mixed use development located in the more dense areas. Mr. Almeida recommended protecting the form, doing the legwork and creating a legacy. Developing the form would make it easier for developers to invest in the community. Mr. Lehrer summarized that form based code was a tool that Mashpee had control over to define how form based code could apply to the Town. Mashpee Commons could submit a proposal, but the Planning Board could modify or define how their vision could apply. Mr. Balzarini noted that they already had a modification process in place through Special Permits. Mr. Almeida pointed out that the modifications were case-by-case proposals, never knowing what exactly the Town would have in the end. Mr. Balzarini noted that Mashpee Commons typically got what they wanted. Mr. Almeida stated that the Town would have a wider range of control over form, not just the building or the site. Chairman Waygan noted that some Planning Board members consciously made the decision not to attend Mashpee Commons sessions due to quorum concerns and being put on the spot to speak without first meeting as Board. Mr. Almeida stated that form based code could help create great places. Community was defined as a combination of the public realm and the private realm and a balance of both. The public realm consisted of public spaces, civic buildings and commercial spaces that may be expressive and unique, places for informal gatherings, important institutions that were celebrated as the values of the community and centers to host commerce. The private realm defined the public realm and was described as buildings that defined the edges of the public space that should be normative and recessive, not as exceptional in architecture as the institutions. Building typology was defined by its location and how it was as an essential element of towns and villages, creating civic art, a combination of building types and town space types and their respective details. Syntax was the detailing of the architecture. Mr. Almeida stated that coding created visual harmony. Coding was oriented toward form and not land use. Four components of form based code was described as, vision centered, written as part of a master plan, binding public and private interests; purposeful, and priority driven, concentrating on regulating with emphasis on those areas that were prone to change; place based, code prescriptions carefully calibrated specific to the setting to which they are applied; and consequential urbanism, not an exercise in beautification. Mr. Almeida noted that form based code was an economic development engine, to deliver a strategy for improvement calibrated to local economic opportunities that the market could deliver, but not by creating an imbalance, but creating a path for business at the outset. Mr. Almeida discussed bolstering the health of the community with form based code with walking, connecting to people, breathing great air and beauty. FBC was precise and concrete and experience based and it was binding, creating standards that would be obligatory. Mr. Lehrer stated that he would forward the presentation to Board members. Mr. Almeida recommended books helpful in understanding form based code: American Vitruvious, The New Civic 6