How do the Design Guidelines relate to me?
Municipal staff has the responsibility of assessing how well proposed development meets the goals of a community, and proposing actions to elected officials to implement those goals. The Design Guidelines provide directions regarding local principles that can be implemented in order to become a more transit-friendly community. For planning and zoning officials, they offer measurable characteristics of good design, while public works staff can utilize technical information to ensure that local infrastructure standards support transit vehicles, facilities and technologies as well as bicycle and pedestrian mobility.
What is my role in implementing the Design Guidelines?
Municipal staff are those most likely to use the Guidelines on a day-to-day basis. Standards included in the Guidelines can be brought into local plan-making, and staff can advocate for the formal adoption of specific standards into local development policies. Staff can also encourage the integration of Pace’s DRAFT program into local development review procedures, as either a formal review procedure or an advisory step in the process.
What parts of the Design Guidelines I should focus on?
It is strongly recommended that you review all sections of the Design Guidelines. There are, however, several sections that you may find more relevant than others. Local planning and zoning staff will find chapter 4-6 relevant in identifying broader elements of transit-friendly design. (Specifically, chapters 5 and 6 identify public and private realm design characteristics that directly relate to developer-driven infrastructure and development.) Public works staff will be most interested in chapters 4, 5 and 7. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on the development of transit infrastructure and related systems, while chapter 7 includes technical specification for certain aspects of the built environment.
