Support and reinforce the purpose of the city's mixed-use zones and associated subarea plans, where applicable.

Create compact, mixed-use, multi-modal redevelopment that helps to create and establish a nodal destination point for the community and east Pierce County at large.

Allow building heights that create space for a critical mass of people needed to make a new urban neighborhood successful. Ensure that development is human in scale at the pedestrian level.

In the River Road mixed use (RMX) zone, to embrace and integrate the Riverwalk Trail system as a focal point of access and building orientation and accentuate River Road as a gateway to the city.

Incorporate "green" design, smart growth policies, and sustainable technology into the urban design, site plan design and architectural designs.

To ensure top quality design and pedestrian orientation in the layout and planning of redevelopment.

Use sustainable building materials and construction methods (e.g., LEED) that are of the highest quality and appropriate to an urban environment and expected to last at least 50 years.

Adaptively reuse existing buildings.

To promote and establish a coordinated system of internal roadways and nonmotorized pathways and plazas throughout the MX zones.

To mitigate the potential impacts of taller buildings than what is normally observed in the development patterns of the community.

Urban Form. All development in the MX design review overlay zone shall reflect the area's vision of a pedestrian-oriented environment by establishing a high quality, compact urban node in the community.

Architectural Design. New development may be a variety of architectural styles, with a focus on the use of innovative, sustainable building materials and design practices, such as LEED. Architectural designs shall seek to promote a high quality architectural theme that minimizes the bulk and scale of compact development.

Pedestrian Orientation. All development in the overlay shall establish a pedestrian-scaled environment within compact development patterns that is urban in scale and form.

Parking Facilities. Parking, loading and service areas shall be designed and located so as to minimize their visual presence in the center, present an attractive facade to neighboring uses, minimize the impact of expansive parking areas along pedestrian-oriented streets and active use areas.

Upper Floor Stepbacks. The upper floor stepback of a building three stories or taller shall be a minimum of 10 feet. Alternatively, a total 10-foot step may be accommodated over multiple stories (e.g., seven feet on third floor, three feet on upper floor).

Upper floor windows shall be a variety of shapes and sizes with multiple recesses and framing utilized. Stepbacks can be accommodated through exterior porches, balconies or other usable space along public street frontages to reduce the scale of larger buildings. Special attention shall be given to building location and shadowing which may impact solar access.

Street/Trail Level Elements.

Building Modulations. Buildings designed with completely flat facades and monotone color schemes are not permitted. All buildings are required to have horizontal and vertical facade variations such as pop-outs, bays, recesses, arches, banding, columns, or similar features. Such features are required at least every 30 feet along all exterior wall planes and shall be offset at least four feet.

Building Articulation. Buildings shall incorporate articulation on all sides. The street-facing side(s) shall receive the greatest amount of attention with respect to richness of forms, details, materials, and craft.

Blank Wall Treatment. Treat any facade with walls containing an area with over 30 feet in length or 400 square feet in area with multiple building materials of varying colors, textures and/or accents or through the use of painted murals, or other artwork. Alternatively, a planted trellis at least seven feet tall and 10 feet wide placed every 10 feet within a minimum five-foot irrigated planting bed. Climbing vines, columnar conifer trees/shrubs and/or other ground cover/shrub grouping shall be planted with the intent to screen the blank wall area. Buildings shall be designed to ensure that they look like the same building on all sides. Consistent or complementary building details and proportions on all sides ensure a "four-sided" quality to a building, but a building is not hereby prohibited from having more than four sides.

Building Materials. On one- to-two-story structures, cover a minimum of 30 percent of the building facade with a minimum of two exterior building materials. On structures three or more stories tall, cover a minimum of 40 percent of the building facade with two distinct building materials and a minimum of 60 percent with a third material. Building material texture and contrasting/complementary colors are encouraged. The use of stucco siding shall be minimized throughout and the use of metal paneling, brick, decorative faux stone, masonry, and masonry veneer shall comprise a minimum of 60 percent of the exterior facade, excluding gables, windows, doors, and related trim, throughout; all stone, masonry or faux mason materials shall be used in the lower portions of exterior walls. Horizontal changes of material from brick or stone to another material shall include a stone cap or a brick sill; the cap or sill shall project from the face of the building. A vertical change of materials shall occur at an interior corner or shall not occur within four feet of an exterior corner.

Required Parapets and Cornices. All flat roofs shall have a parapet and a cornice on all facades or walls. Flashing at the top of a parapet shall not qualify as a cornice. Cornices shall be in proportion with the size, scale, and architectural detailing of the building, and shall be decorative/ornate in nature. Buildings shall only be required to provide parapets and cornices on street-facing facades and walls. Cornices shall return at least eight feet around corners that transition from a building wall that requires a cornice to a building wall that does not require a cornice.

Roofline Modulation. If the continuous roofline exceeds 50 feet in length on a building with a flat, gabled, hipped or similar roof, or on a roofline with slopes of less than three feet vertical to 12 feet horizontal, the following methods shall be used: