The Land Use Plan, adopted in November 1996, recommends that a Design Guidelines Manual be produced in order to implement the general town design vision and recommendations given in the Land Use Plan. The Citizens Advisory Committee that developed the Plan identified this project as one of its top priorities. This priority was confirmed by Town Council and incorporated into the Planning Department’s work program.

For more than a year, staff and our consultant, Frazier and Associates, have been working with an advisory committee comprised of residents, builders, design professionals, and developers to develop a set of guidelines to help shape the physical development of Cary. In addition, we have held a joint work session with the Appearance Commission and Planning and Zoning Board to gain further input to the Manual. The town's website (what's new section) contains the complete draft document.

The Cary Design Guidelines Manual is intended to serve a number of purposes. They are to:

• educate property owners, developers, the public, and plan reviewers on what is expected and desired for new development throughout the Town;
• present clear principles and priorities for achieving Cary’s vision;
• present clear policy guidelines and criteria for development to implement the design vision; and
• Illustrate specific techniques to use when planning and designing developments. (Our consultant has provided "real life examples of how techniques contained in the manual have been used throughout the country with success. The techniques are practical and can reasonably be applied to development in Cary.)

The following features have been used to form the basis for the Manual:

• Attractive appearance -emphasis on urban design;
• Highly connected roads and paths -safe, convenient travel ways that provide multiple routes and are accessible not just to motorists but also to pedestrians and bicyclists.
• Activity nodes - not strip development but instead " activity center," envisioned as mixed –use nodes with commercial, office, institutional, and high density residential development clustered in a pedestrian-friendly manner.
• Natural Landscapes - preserved natural areas and also enhanced landscape in developed areas.
• Transit-friendly development - a development pattern that offers the potential for economical and efficient transit services.
• Vibrancy -a community with unique and interesting places and focused areas of activity and human interaction.

The Design Guidelines Manual is a document that expands upon the priorities and goals of the Land Use Plan. While the document provides specific recommendations for new development, it is not intended to cover all circumstances. Rather, the content of the manual is meant to give the developers and reviewers the perspective to address unique conditions of each project, while giving builders the flexibility to develop their own designs that meet the intent and principles of the guidelines. In addition to meeting the intent of the guidelines each development project would still need to follow all relevant Town ordinances and policies.

The manual is comprised of three main elements: Design Principles, Development Types, and a Tool Kit. The Design Principles section puts into a visual form the guiding concepts developed in the Land Use Plan. There are seven design principles in the manual. These seven principles are to create human scale, create a sense of place, connect uses, provide transitions between uses, reduce parking impacts, plan for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users, and provide open spaces. The development types section puts the design principles into practice. For each major development type (ie.activity centers), a checklist clarifies what is expected for projects of that type. Illustrative development patterns provide annotated visual representations of conceptual designs. The Tool Kit gives specific guidance on the individual elements that make up a project. It is organized by topic (circulation, site planning, buildings, open space, and transitions) and provides text guidelines accompanied by illustrations and additional design tips.