The Town of Cary Land Use Plan

7.0 DESIGN GUIDELINES

This chapter provides design guidelines which, taken as a whole, describe the design vision that will help guide the built form of Cary. The emphasis in this chapter is on defining the general design, appearance, and layout of sites, buildings, neighborhoods, landscape elements, streets, and sidewalks and paths. These guidelines generally apply to all types of development -- that is, to all of the land use categories used in this plan, as given in Chapter 6. If a particular design element is applicable to only a certain land use category, it is so stated.

The design guidelines given in this chapter will be further refined and clarified in a Development Design Guidelines Manual for Cary, to be written after adoption of this Land Use Plan. This chapter will form the basis for the design guidelines manual, and in the interim suggests design alternatives.

The Town recognizes that some of the guidelines given in this chapter may not be applicable or practicable in all cases. In addition the Town welcomes creative development that differs from the guidelines outlined in this chapter, if the spirit and intent of the guidelines are met.

7.1 The Motivation for Design Guidelines

This Land Use Plan is intentionally focused on urban design, for three reasons. First, numerous focus groups held with Cary citizens revealed tremendous civic concerns over design-related issues, such as pedestrian access, child-safe bike routes, roadway landscaping and medians, shopping centers, and parking lots.

Second, it is well-recognized in the planning and development literature that careful attention to attractive and citizen-friendly urban design is in the economic interests of a municipality, its citizens, and business owners. Attractive and integrated urban design features tend to improve a town’s image, raise overall property values, attract new businesses and residents, and improve the quality of life. Research and experience has demonstrated that there is a positive return on investment for design features, for both government, private industry, and property owners. For example, the money a town spends on landscaped roadway medians, sidewalks, and street trees is likely to be amply returned in the form of increased tax revenue resulting from the overall increase in property values that accompanies attractive and desirable urban areas.

Third, in towns and cities across the country -- including Cary -- there is a growing realization that incompatibilities between adjacent sites is very often a function of design and development impacts rather than of differences in their land uses. The focus in current use-based development regulation is to require strict separation and substantial buffers between different land uses, regardless of design or site impacts. However, with appropriate and compatible urban design it could be entirely reasonable for commercial, office, and residential uses to be placed literally side-by-side, with little need for strict separation and buffering. This realization has in part led to the emergence of the traditional neighborhood development movement, and has prompted numerous municipalities to shift from strict use-based regulation of development to design-based and impact-based regulation which is much more flexible. This Plan and the subsequent Development Design Guidelines Manual will be a first step towards such design- and impact-based guidance of development.

7.2 The National Trend Towards Pedestrian-Friendly Design Guidelines

Throughout the country, communities are reevaluating their standards for commercial development and demanding that national and regional chains integrate local custom and character into their site and building designs. This trend has surfaced as the retail industry has continued its shift towards generating national retail chains (often through corporate mergers), and as various regional chains have expanded into new markets. Because these larger companies have standardized their designs to mass-market products at a lower cost, there is little variation in building and site design from coast to coast. This phenomenon has begun to concern citizens as they see their communities become "normalized" and molded into patterns similar to every other town and city in America.

This loss of a sense of uniqueness and place, in addition to the continued focus on designs which cater solely to the automobile, has led many communities to implement stronger local design requirements in order to recapture individual town character and to reclaim the realm of the pedestrian. Many of these communities’ design guidelines have sought to balance the mobility needs of residents with respect to a range of transportation modes (i.e., by automobile, transit, pedestrian, and bicycle modes). Municipalities across the country have adopted design guidelines that encourage the integration of common design themes which complement those existing in the community, reduce building setbacks, and orient buildings onto streets and public spaces to achieve a more human-scale and pedestrian-friendly environment.

Gresham, Oregon, Fort Collins, Colorado, Bellevue, Washington, and Mashpee, Massachusetts, are a few municipalities from across the country that have successfully adopted design standards for local development which are intended to preserve local character and promote pedestrian-friendly, human-scale development. Examples of successful commercial projects developed under these standards are given below:

• Mashpee Commons is a commercial center in Mashpee, Massachusetts. It offers a good example of a center that was redeveloped under new municipal design guidelines. It is also representative of the activity center concept described throughout the Cary Land Use Plan. The Mashpee Commons renovation consisted of reorienting shops from a strip configuration to one oriented towards the streets, and which created public spaces such as plazas and porticos, as well as providing a mix of shops that include larger national chains and local operators. Mixing office, institutional, and public spaces has brought more people to the center, and it has become a focal point for the community. The gross leasable area on the site’s 25 acres doubled, and average annual rents have nearly doubled as well. Expansion of this center was conducted in a fully saturated retail market.
  
• In Gresham, Oregon, no building footprints larger than 70,000 square feet are allowed in the Neighborhood Civic District. Thus, "big box" retailers are required to design buildings having smaller footprints, and/or build upward. Guidelines requiring pedestrian-oriented commercial centers have been in place for 8 months. A Walgreens Drug Store site has been approved for development based upon their conformance with these guidelines. Some of the town’s other design guidelines include restrictions against blank walls along streets, having buildings oriented and built to street fronts, and having parking distributed to the sides and rear of sites. Retailers continue to seek approval of development plans in Gresham, knowing that they will have to work within local guidelines. The pace of development and local economic growth has not slowed under these guidelines.
  
• The City of Bellevue, Washington, requires that all new development and redevelopment of commercial sites abide by its pedestrian-oriented design guidelines, which have been in place for 6 years. Bellevue Square was developed under these standards, and has proven to be immensely successful. The Square was converted from an old open-air mall to a two-story enclosed structure. The mall fronts two streets at a corner and is sited on 35 acres. Parking is distributed around the building and in structured lots. Major anchor tenants with sidewalk entrances are located there, including JC Penney, which had historically not located in non-conventional mall settings. Other stores within the Square include high-end retailers like Nordstroms, Ann Taylor, and Bally.

Not only do design guidelines that seek to foster development of natural amenities and architecturally pleasing features at a human scale provide public benefits, but in most instances the rate of return for the developer is dramatically higher. This has been recorded in particular through surveys conducted by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), documented in its publication, Value By Design. These studies have documented that added financial benefits are routinely reaped in both commercial and residential developments where extra design features are incorporated. Results of other surveys conducted for ULI have concluded that home buyers value open space, pedestrian/bicycle paths, community control over design, and small clusters of neighborhood-oriented retail located near residences.

Evidence shows that implementation of design standards that focus development in a human-scale, pedestrian-friendly manner are profitable both emotionally and financially. While such design standards are being adopted more and more throughout the country, retailers are altering their design models in order to compete in these towns’ large and growing markets. Areas that are viewed as desirable retail markets are obviously in a sound position to implement local design guidelines. Cary is just such a market. Retailers know that there is likely to be untapped consumer demand in Cary as it grows, making Cary an extremely attractive commercial development market -- especially with its affluent base of families and professionals.

This plan does not seek to create a set of rigid standards. Instead, the plan provides a flexible alternative to conventional shopping center development, designed to answer residents’ wishes for commercial and residential development that gives greater consideration to pedestrian access, is more accessible to neighborhoods, and builds an even more attractive town environment.

7.3 Design Guidelines for Cary

Building Design, Height and Mass:

• Within a neighborhood or community activity center, buildings should be built on a "human scale" (i.e., where buildings do not dwarf the people, and where the detail, materials, and building design lend an intimate and personal feel to the streetscape). (See Figure 7.4.)
  
• The design of individual buildings is just as important as the whole agglomeration of buildings, streets, public spaces, pedestrian ways, and landscaping taken together, in the context of the surrounding area.
  
• Within an activity center, building heights should be greatest in the focus area and inner portion of the support area (the part closest to the focus area), and should transition to lower heights outward from the focus area to the outer edge of the support area. (See Figure 7.1)
  
• Buildings at the outer edge of an activity center’s support area should be comparable in height and mass with the surrounding neighborhood beyond the support area.
  
• Nonresidential buildings outside of activity centers and office/industrial parks should be compatible in height and mass with adjacent and nearby properties.
  
• Building heights within a neighborhood activity center should be no more than about 3-4 stories.⁶²
  
• Building heights within a community activity center should be no more than about 4-5 stories.⁶³
  
• Low- and medium-density residential neighborhood buildings outside of activity centers should generally not exceed about 2-3 stories.

Arrangement and Siting of Buildings:

• Buildings in an activity center or office/industrial park focus area should be arranged in a manner that creates a sense of enclosure and defined space. A site’s buildings should be arranged so that they help to frame and define the fronting streets, as well as the internal streets of the activity center, giving deliberate form to streets and sidewalk areas.
  
• Where possible, it is recommended that buildings on the site be arranged so that a sufficient number of the site’s buildings or portion of the site’s aggregate building mass has an orientation towards the fronting arterial(s)/ street(s), and are located in relatively close relation to those fronting arterial(s)/street(s), so as to effectively frame and define the fronting streets and the pedestrian realm along those streets.⁶⁴ (See Figure 7.2)
  
• In activity centers, some consideration should be given to orienting at least some of the buildings to streets leading into the activity center from the neighborhood and along the major fronting streets.
  
• As far as practicable, buildings in activity centers should not be separated from fronting streets by large parking lots. (See "Parking Criteria" for more details, below.) At a minimum, placement of outparcel buildings between a large parking lot and the street can be used to help define the streetscape, and lessen the visual impact of the parking lot from the street.
  
• Whenever the focus area or support area of an activity center are split across streets or quadrants of an intersection, the buildings on the different quadrants or sides of the roadway should not be separated from each other by "a sea of parking." The line and massing of the buildings and structures on each quadrant should be arranged such that they are as close to each other as possible and linked by crosswalks and pedestrian paths, encouraging pedestrian movement between the quadrants on opposite sides of the arterial. Ideally, part of the line of the principal building mass on each quadrant should extend as close to the intersection cross-walk as possible. (See Figure 7.3.)
  
• At a minimum, sensitive placement of outparcel buildings along the opposite sides of the street can be used to help define the streetscape, and bring the two focus or support areas in closer relation to each other. In such cases, the outparcel buildings should also be located in close relation to the street and to each other, and in a common alignment.
  
• All buildings in the activity center should be in close physical proximity (to the extent allowed by site topography), well-connected by pedestrian sidewalks, walkways, arcades, or colonnades, and not separated from one another by large parking areas. One should not have to walk in and along parking aisles or roadways to get from any one building to another.
  
• For infill sites outside of activity centers, buildings should be set back from the street in accordance with the predominant line of building massing (setback) along the street, so as to create a defined streetscape and sense of place. Buildings should generally be oriented toward the fronting street(s).
  
• In activity centers and nonresidential developments outside of activity centers, outparcel buildings should be designed so that they are not only oriented towards the fronting streets, but also have a relation and orientation with the rest of the development. Outparcels should also be connected to and served from the internal streets of the activity center or development.
  
• In activity centers (and elsewhere), the design of outparcel buildings and sites should be integrated into the overall design of the activity center. Outparcel buildings should have architectural, design, and pedestrian connections strongly linking them with rest of the activity center. For example, covered pedestrian walkways linking outparcel buildings with the main buildings of the center could provide a strong design connection.

Design Compatibility:

• Building design and landscaping in neighborhoods should be compatible and harmonious.
  
• In an activity center, the design, architecture, and materials of buildings and landscaping should be compatible, harmonious, and adhere to a common design theme.
  
• In an office/industrial park, or for nonresidential development outside of activity centers and office/industrial parks, the design, architecture, materials, and appearance of the site and its buildings should be compatible and harmonious with one another and with adjacent uses, especially from views along arterials and major collectors.

Design Integration:

• An activity center should be integrated into, and compatible with, the layout, design, and appearance of the surrounding residential neighborhood(s).
  
• The support areas of an activity center should be integrated into the design of the focus area.
  
• Diverse land uses should be linked together in an integrated and cohesively designed manner.
  
• Streets, sidewalks, and other connective outdoor spaces should weave new development into the community fabric as completely as possible.

Public Spaces:

• Pedestrian-oriented public outdoor spaces should be incorporated as design elements into activity centers and office/industrial park focus areas. These public spaces may include a formal park or town green, small formal parks/plazas, and so forth, as focal points for community interaction. These public spaces should be integrated purposefully into the overall design of the activity center, and not merely be residual areas left over after buildings and parking lots are sited. These spaces should also be placed next to the areas that generate the users (such as street corners, shops and restaurants, stores, daycare, and dwellings).
  
• Within an activity center, street furniture (e.g., benches), lighting, and sensitively arranged uses such as outdoor cafes should be provided to encourage human interaction and street life. (See Figure 7.4.)
  
• Neighborhood parks should be integrated into each neighborhood as central design elements.

Trees, Landscaping, and Natural Environment:

• Existing vegetation and large specimen trees should be preserved and incorporated into site design when possible, in order to create a natural appearance and the impression of a mature landscape, subject to the following guidelines:

• The trees and vegetation to be preserved should be a long-term asset to the site or the community. Tree and vegetation preservation should be evaluated by comparing the overall quality and appearance of the site if it were to have replanted areas versus if it were to have preserved areas -- 5 to 10 years after construction. ( Figure 7.5.)
  
• The preservation of vegetation should also be weighed against the amount, type, and quality of replantings that could be achieved for the same cost, with a view to the long-term appearance of the site. For the same cost, it may be possible to replant a site so that its long-term appearance will be far more lush than could be achieved by preserving native vegetation.
  
• Preservation of existing vegetation should not take precedence over the other design criteria of this chapter.

• A sufficient number of trees, of appropriate type, should be preserved or provided on residential lots to provide adequate dwelling shade at maturity.
  
• Significant landscaped and/or natural streetscapes along roadways are encouraged.
  
• Street trees are desired along all arterials and major collectors within activity centers, and whenever buildings are oriented in close relation to the street. Residential streets should also be lined with street trees, providing a generous street canopy at maturity. (See Figure 7.6.)
  
• Parking aisles should be separated from one another by planted medians with shade trees.
  
• Development should generally conform to the natural terrain to the extent practical, but not at the expense of compromising the other criteria in this Plan, or at the expense of precluding innovative design that would be an asset to the community, in accord with the general spirit and intent of this Plan.

Transitions:

• In general, housing densities should be highest within activity centers, transitioning to progressively lower densities moving outwards from the focus area to the outer edge of the support area.

Buffers:

• Adequate buffers should be provided to mitigate incompatible transitions between higher-density uses and lower-density uses and between residential and nonresidential uses.
  
• Vegetated buffers and other screening should be used to buffer incompatible land uses if architectural and design transitions are unfeasible or inadequate.

Visual Impacts:

• Adverse visual (view) impacts from one development onto another should be avoided or mitigated. Adverse visual impacts from nonresidential sites onto nearby residential areas, or from high-density residential sites onto nearby low-density residential areas, should be avoided through the use of visual buffers and/or the use of neighborhood-compatible architecture and building mass and siting.

Noise and Light Impacts:

• Adverse noise and lighting impacts from one site onto adjacent or nearby sites should be avoided, minimized, or mitigated.

Roadway Design Criteria:
Connectivity:

• Development in Cary should have a highly connected roadway pattern. A highly-connected road network provides numerous alternate routes for trips between the same origins and destinations. A poorly-connected road network offers few, if any, alternate routes between the same trip origins and destinations. Traffic studies have shown that highly-connected road networks provide much greater traffic throughput and mobility for a town, at less cost. (See Figure 7.7.)
  
• Cary’s roadway network should develop so that there is not only a high degree of connectivity at the arterial level, but also at the level of collector, local, and other secondary roads.⁶⁵ A high degree of connectivity at the level of secondary roads as well as arterials vastly improves a road network’s performance and traffic throughput (See Figure 7.7). The roadway pattern should not "force" short trips of one or two miles onto arterials; it should be possible for trips of this sort to be made using collector or other secondary roads. With a highly-connected roadway network, cross-town trips should be possible using fairly direct, through secondary roads.
  
• Given the density of development in Cary, [parallel] arterials should generally be spaced no more than approximately one mile apart, with at least one or two through collectors (secondary roads) in each direction (i.e., north-south and east-west) intervening between the arterials. This fills in the space between the arterial "grid."⁶⁶
  
• In keeping with the desire for a high degree of roadway connectivity, the following guidelines are offered:

• The road network of any one development or site should interconnect with the road network of any adjacent development or site, creating a highly-connected town-wide road network. Developments where the internal road networks are isolated from all adjacent sites, except to the [principal] fronting arterial or collector, are discouraged. (See Figure 7.8.)
  
• An activity center’s road network should connect directly into the neighborhood road network of the surrounding [residential] community (arterial and secondary roads), providing multiple paths for movement to and through the activity center. (See Figure 6.2.) In this way, trips made from the surrounding residential neighborhood(s) to the activity center should be possible without requiring travel along a major thoroughfare or arterial.
  
• The roadway pattern within a residential or nonresidential development, if any, should be highly connected, and should link to the exterior town road network as much as possible (e.g., as extensions or continuations of existing or planned town roads).
  
• Outparcels should also be connected to and served from the internal streets of the nonresidential development of which they are a part.

• It is recognized that the development of roadways is often constrained by site topography, and that in some instances the degree of connectivity envisioned by this Plan may not be practicable, due to severe topographic constraints.

Center turn lanes and medians:

• Roadway-center two-way turning lanes should be avoided. If a turning lane is necessary, a single-direction turn lane is desired. Center two-way turning lanes are undesirable because they: 1) pose traffic hazards, due to head-on conflicts and illegal use of the lane for left-out turn stacking; 2) can pose increased traffic risks for pedestrians crossing the roadway; 3) create a needlessly-wide curb-to-curb expanse of pavement which detracts from the townscape; and 4) have the undesired side-effect of encouraging the progression of future strip nonresidential development along the arterial (since they are perceived as accommodating high-volume left-in/left-out turning movements to sites fronting the arterial). With improved land planning and roadway design, center two-way turn lanes should rarely be needed. (See Figure 7.9.)
  
• Arterials should include planted center medians. Planted medians are desired because they: 1) enhance the overall town appearance, raising property values and improving the Town’s overall economic attractiveness; 2) can have a psychological effect on drivers that may result in less speeding; 3) help to impede the progression of any future strip nonresidential development along the arterial (without median cuts, left-in/left-out turning movements to sites fronting the arterial are prevented); 4) provide practical relief to pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the roadway by providing a mid-point crossing island at crosswalks; and 5) can improve traffic safety, when properly designed, by creating a barrier to head-on collisions. (See Figure 7.9.)
  
• In order to accommodate the two items above and increase road capacity on arterials, relatively few access points to sites should be provided per mile from arterials. Most sites should be served from collectors or secondary roads, and not from arterials.
  
• Arterial medians are especially important around activity centers, where they signify the importance of the activity center as a community focal point.
  
• Arterial medians may also be advisable on roadway sections where homes front on the arterial. Although a median in such an instance will prevent left-out turning movements from the fronting homes, as long as an acceptable alternate route exists for the homeowner the median may be preferable to a two-way turn lane, since it may have the effect of lowering traffic speeds (improving safety), provide a crossing island for the residents (improving safety), prevent conversion of the street to strip nonresidential uses (saving the neighborhood), and provide a streetscape that preserves property values. These benefits should be carefully weighed against the convenience of left-out traffic movements.

Traffic impacts:

• Access to and from a development or site should not create undue traffic flow problems on adjacent roadways.

Speed:

• Road speeds within an activity center should generally not exceed 35 mph., and should be compatible with the pedestrian nature and scale of the activity center.

Outer Wake Expressway:

• The proposed Western/Outer Wake Expressway should be designed to accommodate this Plan’s vision for highly-connected roadway and pedestrian/bicycle path networks, as well as its vision for greenways and conservation corridors. Towards this end, it is recommended that the Expressway include ample crossing points for arterial and secondary roads, with sidewalks, so that overall roadway and pedestrian network connectivity can be achieved and maintained. It is also recommended that the Expressway include ample numbers of crossings for greenways and conservation corridors, so that the expressway does not prove a barrier to recreation, pedestrians, and wildlife. With these features, the expressway will not necessarily cleave Cary into two disjointed communities.

Parking Criteria (location, orientation, land area):
Where to park:

• For any sites or developments that include significant amounts of parking, site design should avoid a "sea of parking" impression from the fronting streets (i.e., where vast amounts of surface parking dominate the view(s) from the fronting street(s) to the site’s primary buildings). This is usually a problem only for large nonresidential and multifamily sites, especially shopping centers. (See Figure 7.10.)
  
  There are several reasons for avoiding a "sea of parking" between fronting streets and a site’s principal buildings: (1) Most commercial parking lots are sized for peak day demand, which usually occurs around the major holidays. For most of the year, vast portions of these parking lots go unused, detracting from the landscape along the fronting boulevards and creating a sense of desolation. If such peak day parking were directed to the sides or rear of such sites, the landscape would be much improved. (2) The presence of vast parking lots between the fronting street and the buildings results in the principal buildings being set back from the roadway to such an extent that it discourages pedestrian access to the site and will frustrate any future transit connections to the site. (3) Streetscapes that are dominated by parking lots contribute to a bleak and formless urban environment, potentially lowering property values and detracting from town character.
  
  In keeping with the desire to avoid a "sea of parking" impression from the fronting street(s), the following guidelines are offered:

• Rather than having a single, very large contiguous parking area between the fronting street and the buildings, the parking should be broken up into smaller lots, with generous amounts of parking directed to the rear and sides of the buildings or site. Single, very large parking lots should be avoided.
  
• This section does not mean that there can be no parking areas between the fronting street(s) and the principal buildings in shopping centers or other large nonresidential or multifamily developments. The intent is to significantly reduce the amount of large surface parking between the fronting street(s) and the principal buildings, allowing the buildings to be brought somewhat closer to the fronting street(s), in support of a more attractive, upscale, and pedestrian- and transit-friendly environment.

• For multifamily residential development, streetscapes along the fronting streets should not be dominated by large parking areas or garages; parking should be directed into interior spaces on the site, away from the fronting streets. For example, parking could be directed to the sides and/or rear of the units, courtyards, or garages located in, under, to the side, or behind the units. Single, large parking lots for multifamily dwellings should generally be avoided.
  
• Streetscapes in small-lot single-family detached subdivisions should not be dominated by garages rather than homes. Thus, rear-yard garages are encouraged whenever possible. (Rear-yard garages can be accessed either from the fronting street or from an alley; such garages are usually accessed from the fronting street, via a driveway that goes along the side of the house or lot to the rear yard.)

Buffering and screening:

• Parking lots that face a street should be partially screened from the street by a low fence, wall, hedge, or topographic or vegetated buffer.
  
• If a parking lot fronts an arterial or major collector, and is of such a size that it dominates views from the fronting arterial/collector and detracts from the overall streetscape and community appearance, then it is recommended that the parking lot be screened or buffered from view along the fronting roadway(s).

Landscaping:

• Parking aisles should be separated from one another by planted medians with shade trees. When possible, it is recommended that parking aisles and their shade trees be aligned in a solar orientation to cast shade on parked cars during the summer months, if such an orientation does not compromise other design criteria in this chapter. (See Figure 7.11.)

Amount of parking:

• The number of parking spaces in an activity center should be limited by encouraging "shared parking," where parking areas are shared among the activity center’s diverse land uses in order to meet the 24-hour variation in peak parking demand. For example, most office parking spaces will be vacant after 5-6 p.m., when they could be used by customers of the adjacent shopping center in the activity center.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Access and Connections:

General:

• Access to developments should serve the needs of the pedestrian and bicyclist as well as the motorist. Site designs should balance the needs of both the automobile and the pedestrian, and of both automotive and pedestrian/bicycle traffic.

Connectivity:

• Cary should have highly connected pedestrian and bicycle pathway networks. Pedestrian pathways include sidewalks, greenways, shared bicycle/pedestrian paths and sidewalks, and local two-lane residential streets. Bicycle pathways include shared pedestrian-and-bicycle facilities, such as greenways, grade-separated bicycle/pedestrian paths, shared bicycle/pedestrian sidewalks, and other shared bicycle/pedestrian paths, plus on-street bike lanes, and local two-lane residential streets. (See Figure 7.12.)
  
• A highly-connected path network provides multiple alternate direct routes for pedestrian/bicycle trips between the same origins and destinations (at a minimum, there should be at least one direct route for pedestrian/bicycle trips between a given origin and destination). A poorly-connected path network offers few, if any, alternate direct routes between the same trip origins and destinations. An unconnected path network fails to provide for any direct pedestrian/bicycle routes between specific origins and destinations.
  
• It should be possible for pedestrian (or bicycle) trips to be made within or between neighborhoods, communities, or different sites in Cary using only the pedestrian (or bicycle) path system -- i.e., without requiring travel off of the path system. Cross-town trips should eventually be possible using fairly direct pedestrian (or bicycle) paths.
  
• The following connectivity guidelines are offered:

• The pedestrian (or bicycle) paths of any one development or site should interconnect with the pedestrian (or bicycle) paths of any adjacent development or site, creating a highly-connected town-wide pedestrian (or bicycle) path network. Developments where internal paths are isolated from all adjacent sites, except along the fronting arterial or collector, are discouraged.
  
• The pedestrian (bicycle) path network within a given development or site should be highly connected. All points within a development or site should be accessible to pedestrian (bicycle) traffic via pedestrian/bicycle paths.
  
• It is especially important that public destinations such as schools, places of worship, parks, libraries, post offices, shopping, and so forth, should be connected by pedestrian (bicycle) paths with each other and with nearby residential and employment areas.

• It is recognized that the development of pedestrian (bicycle) paths is often constrained by site topography, and that in some instances the degree of connectivity envisioned by this Plan may not be practicable, due to severe topographic constraints.
  
• It is recognized that some pedestrian (bicycle) paths and connections make little practical sense, such as having an extensive pedestrian path system within an industrial park or similar land use. It is not the intent of this Plan to require such connections.

Sidewalks:

• In an activity center, for streets that have buildings or development on both sides of the street, sidewalks should be provided on both sides; for streets that have buildings or development on only one side of the street, a sidewalk is needed on that side only.
  
• For collectors and arterials that have speed limits over 25 mph or are three or more lanes wide, sidewalks should be provided on both sides of all streets that have buildings or development on both sides of the street, and on the developed side of all streets that have buildings or development on only one side of the street.

Crossings:

• Pedestrian cross-walks and bicycle crossings (which may be shared bicycle & pedestrian crossings) should be provided throughout the community as necessary for the safety, convenience, and feasibility of pedestrian travel between the community’s residential, shopping, employment, recreation, and institutional sites.

Safety:

• Ideally, trips made within and between neighborhoods, and between community destinations such as neighborhoods, activity centers, public places (schools, places of worship, parks, libraries, post offices, shopping, etc.), and employment areas should not require bicycle travel in a roadway having a posted speed in excess of 25 mph, except for the purpose of crossing the road.
  
• The travel ways for bicycle traffic should be designed to minimize automobile-bicycle travel conflict, keeping bicyclists of all ages safely out of the automotive stream.
  
• It is recognized that many proficient adult bicyclists prefer to move in and with the automotive stream along major streets, or along on-road bicycle lanes. However, this Plan seeks to address the mobility needs of all its potential bicyclists, including children, senior citizens, and less proficient adults, who should not be forced to travel on roadways, except on low-speed, local streets. As Cary develops, safe routes need to be provided so that children and others can safely bike to school, the library, parks, and so forth.

Other:

• Places to stow/park and lock bicycles should be provided or accommodated at points throughout an activity center’s focus area.

Transit Access and Connections:

• Activity centers and office/industrial parks should include location(s) for [future] local transit stop(s), sited in accord with an eventual municipal long-range transit plan. Activity centers should accommodate the service needs of existing regional transit services.
  
• Reservation or provision of parking space for park and ride or carpool uses is encouraged at transit stops in an activity center.
  
• Transit stops should be connected with the area’s pedestrian/bicycle pathway system.
  
• Transit stops in an activity center or office/industrial park should be identifiable architectural and site elements, located so that they are within a reasonable walk of all buildings.
  
• Transit stops should have an overhang or shelter to protect users during inclement weather, benches, and lighting, and [space for] bicycle racks/stowage.
  
• An activity center’s or office/industrial park’s internal street network and access points should be designed to facilitate direct, efficient movement of transit vehicles to and from the Town’s thoroughfares and its transit stop.
  
• If [bus] transit routes are planned within a neighborhood (outside of the activity center) at some point in the future (in conformance with a [future] town-wide strategic transit plan), then the designated future residential street routes should be designed to accommodate bus traffic.

Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND):

As noted in Chapter 6, the style of development known as Traditional Neighborhood Development is available as an option in most areas marked as Low Density Residential on the Growth Plan Map. (See Chapter 6, Section 6.5.1, and Chapter 8.) Traditional neighborhood design features may also be applied to activity centers, office/industrial parks, and possibly nonresidential infill sites outside of activity centers and office/industrial parks. For primarily nonresidential infill sites, the traditional neighborhood development model should only be applied if it will be compatible with adjacent and nearby sites, will enhance and be compatible with the existing streetscape, and avoids an awkward juxtaposition of urban styles.

This section specifies criteria that should be met for traditional neighborhood development. These criteria are in addition to -- and not in place of -- the other criteria of this chapter.

General Design Guidelines for all Traditional Neighborhood Development:

• Traditional neighborhoods are usually organized around a central neighborhood activity center (i.e., "village center"), where shopping, offices, and public facilities are located. (See Figure 7.13.) The neighborhood center should include one or more focal public spaces, such as a village green or neighborhood park or plaza.
  
• Traditional neighborhoods, activity centers, and other TND-style developments have a walkable, pedestrian orientation. Pedestrian activity is focused along the street.
  
• Buildings should be built on a human scale, where buildings do not dwarf people, neighboring structures, or the streetscape itself, and where building design, materials, and landscaping lend an intimate and personal feel to the streetscape.
  
• The design of buildings and landscaping in traditional developments should be compatible, harmonious, and adhere to a common theme.
  
• Dwellings and other buildings should face their fronting street in a relatively common alignment⁶⁷ and have a relatively narrow setback from the street (compared to conventional suburban development), so as to create a defined streetscape and sense of place. (See Figure 7.14.) In nonresidential areas, buildings should be brought up quite close to the sidewalk.

TND Activity Centers, Focus Areas, and Nonresidential Areas:

• Traditional neighborhood activity centers should incorporate a central, focal public space (such as a pedestrian plaza) in the focus area.
  
• Spacing between buildings along streets is generally minimized in activity centers, focus areas, and nonresidential areas, creating a walkable, pedestrian-oriented street environment.

TND Housing and Residential Neighborhoods:

• In general, housing densities should be highest adjacent to the traditional neighborhood focus area, transitioning to progressively lower densities moving outwards from the focus area. However, a portion of the high and medium density uses can be mixed throughout the neighborhood.
  
• Single-family lots tend to have narrower frontages and smaller lots than in many conventional suburban neighborhoods, but a variety of lot widths and sizes can be provided.
  
• Compensating for generally smaller lot sizes, a traditional neighborhood should include a number of formal public spaces such as neighborhood squares, parks, or greens. These spaces also serve as focal and organizing elements within the neighborhood. (See Figure 7.15.)
  
• Front porches on homes are encouraged (single family, duplex, multifamily, etc.), in order to focus human activity out into the neighborhood.

TND Roadway Criteria:

• The roadway pattern within the neighborhood should be highly connected. It is often based on a grid system, or variation thereof. Dead-end roads and culs-de-sac roads should be avoided, and used only when site topography lends no other practical alternatives.
  
• The neighborhood road network should emphasize the use of two-lane neighborhood streets in a highly connected grid, rather than four-lane (or wider) arterials and streets.
  
• Residential streets should generally have speed limits of approximately 15-20 mph.
  
• Alleys may be used behind and between houses to provide access to parking and public utilities (e.g., garbage collection).

TND Sidewalk/Pedestrian Criteria:

• Sidewalks should be provided on both sides of all streets, separated from the roadway by a planting strip with street trees, which at maturity will yield a generous street canopy. (See Figure 7.6)
  
• Sidewalks in the focus area should be wide enough to support pedestrian shopping traffic and large street trees.
  
• All buildings in an activity center, office/industrial park, or nonresidential development outside of activity centers and office/industrial parks should be connected by sidewalks.

TND Parking Criteria:

• Parking in an activity center, office/industrial park, or other TND nonresidential site, should be minimized, broken up into smaller lots, and directed to the rear and sides of buildings. Parking may also be directed into interior courtyard parking lots, surface lots on the periphery of the focus area, multilevel parking structures, and/or parallel street-side parking.
  
• Parking for multifamily or attached housing outside of activity centers should be directed to the rear and sides of buildings, interior courtyard parking lots, multilevel parking structures, and/or parallel street-side parking.
  
• Street-side parallel parking should be allowed on all streets.
  
• Parking for small-lot single family detached homes should be directed to side- and rear-yard garages, and/or into curbside parallel parking. Residential garages and parking pads located at the front of homes, dominating the streetscape, should be avoided. (See Figure 7.14.)