Neighborhood Compatibility Design Guidelines
ARC Resolution 92-04
Checklist Worksheet
The Architectural Review Committee review
encourages and promotes quality design that is appropriate and related to the setting and
established character of the surrounding area or neighborhood. To accomplish this, the
Architectural Review Committee will review all aspects of a proposal that influence
outside appearance, view sharing, and neighborhood compatibility.
In regard to neighborhood compatibility,
the Architectural Review Committee has determined that development, whether new
construction or an addition, should be architecturally in scale, setting, and character
with the neighborhood into which it is placed. The intent of neighborhood compatibility
review is to assure that new construction will fit the surrounding neighborhood.
The checklist
worksheet
has
been prepared to assist applicants and the Architectural Review Committee in determining
neighborhood compatibility and conformance with adopted Neighborhood Plans. The features
and development patterns that are identified in the worksheet will often accurately
describe the common features of a neighborhood and guide applicants to a compatible
design. They also represent characteristics of a neighborhood that the Architectural
Review Committee will consider when they evaluate a design for neighborhood compatibility.
Architectural Review Committee
Neighborhood Compatibility Design Guidelines
An important consideration in the
Architectural Review Committee's review of new development is the relationship between new
development and the established character of the surrounding area or neighborhood. New
development should be architecturally compatible in scale, setting and character with the
neighborhood into which it is placed.
The following guidelines represent the standards that the Architectural Review Committee
will use in evaluation of neighborhood compatibility. They are to be incorporated as an
addition to the Guidelines for Single Family Dwellings Design Review Areas.
Neighborhood Compatibility
This section deals with both the site and
architectural design elements and how they relate to the neighborhood context.
Goal 3.1
New development should be sensitive to its
immediate surrounding neighborhood. An important attraction of Monterey is the existence
of separate and distinct residential neighborhoods. Each is unique and different from the
others. The-General Plan and neighborhood plans recognize these separate and distinct
"natural neighborhoods". New development should respond to the predominate
features that define a neighborhood and reinforce them. Neighborhood compatibility
standards recognize that conformance with individual site design or architectural
guidelines does not assure that neighborhood compatibility is achieved.
Policy 3.1
The design of new single-family dwellings and
home additions should recognize the site, building and landscape characteristics that
define neighborhood character and incorporate them into the design.
Guideline 3.1.1
A neighborhood is primarily defined as that
area of the city that is visually impacted by the building project. This will normally
include the street frontage between adjacent cross streets, properties along that frontage
and properties located within the same block as that
of the building project.
Guideline 3.1.2
Designers are responsible for identifying the
predominant features in a neighborhood that establish that neighborhood's character and
include those characteristics in the building proposed. Physical features which often
provide clues to neighborhood character include:
The distance or separation between adjacent
buildings
How many garages or open parking spaces are
typical
What type of landscaping is predominately
visible to the. street
Are the front yards open or enclosed in
fences or hedges
Does one particular roof shape dominate
Is there a predominate building material
Is there a predominance of single-story or
two-story profiles at the street
Is there a predominant color theme
Guideline 3.1.3
Neighborhood compatibility is not
repetition or a copy of the existing neighborhood buildings.
Guideline 3.1.4
The construction of two-story buildings or
additions in predominately single-story neighborhoods can be compatible provided the
design incorporates features which reduce the visual prominence of the second floor.
Design features which generally reduce visual prominence include:
Avoidance of "belly band" trim
transition between the first floor and second floor
Provision of second floor offsets to avoid
an unrelieved two-story wall
Placing the second floor towards the back of
the house to avoid a two-story profile at the street
Placing the second floor in the middle of
the footprint to provide a one-story transition to adjacent homes
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