Watertown City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VI
Group Developments
§ 550-68 Definition.
A.
A "group development" is any development containing:
(1)
Two or more structures containing principal land uses on the same lot.
(2)
Any single structure on a single lot which contains five or more dwelling units or two or more nonresidential uses.
(3)
Any new institutional, commercial and office buildings in excess of 5,000 gross square feet and all multibuilding group developments in which the combined total of all structures on a site, regardless of diverse ownership, use or tenancy, exceeds 5,000 square feet.
(4)
Any building additions to institutional, commercial and office buildings that bring the total building size to over 5,000 gross square feet. These regulations shall apply to the building addition, the older portions of the building constructed prior to the adoption of this article, and to the site.
B.
Common examples of group developments include six-unit apartment buildings, apartment complexes, condominium complexes, strip centers, shopping centers and office centers. (One-tenant office or commercial buildings containing less than 5,000 square feet of gross floor area, four-unit apartment buildings, and other land uses in which each nonresidential building contains only one tenant, or where the lot contains only one structure, or where each residential building contains four or fewer dwelling units, are not group developments even though such developments may contain parcels under common ownership.)
§ 550-69 Use regulations.
A.
Permitted by right: not applicable.
B.
Conditional use regulations. Any land use that is permitted as a permitted by right land use or as a conditional land use within the applicable zoning district(s) is permitted to locate within a group development. The detailed land use regulations of this section that pertain to individual land uses shall also apply to individual land uses within a group development, as will all other applicable provisions of this chapter. Therefore, land uses permitted by right in the zoning district shall be permitted by right within an approved group development (unless otherwise restricted by the conditions of approval imposed during the conditional use approval for the group development as a whole), and land uses permitted as a conditional use in the zoning district shall be permitted within the group development only with conditional use approval for the specific use. In all cases, the following conditional use conditions shall be applied to the group development as a whole and to individual uses within the group development:
(1)
All required off-street parking spaces and access drives shall be located entirely within the boundaries of the group development.
(2)
The development shall contain a sufficient number of waste bins to accommodate all trash and waste generated by the land uses in a convenient manner.
(3)
No group development shall take access to a local residential street.
(4)
All development located within a group development shall be located so as to comply with the intent of this chapter regarding setbacks of structures and buildings from lot lines. As such, individual principal and accessory structures and buildings located within group developments shall be situated within building envelopes that serve to demonstrate complete compliance with said intent. Said building envelopes shall be depicted on the site plan required for review of group developments. The use of this approach to designing group developments will also ensure the facilitation of subdividing group developments in the future (if such action is so desired).
(5)
The following standards shall apply to all group developments:
(a)
Building exterior materials shall be of high quality on all sides of the structure, including glass, brick, decorative concrete block or stucco. Decorative architectural metal with concealed fasteners may be approved with special permission from the City.
(b)
Building exterior design shall be unified in design and materials throughout the structure and shall be complementary to other structures in the vicinity. However, the development shall employ varying building setbacks, height, roof, treatments, door and window openings, and other structural and decorative elements to reduce the apparent size and scale of the structure. A minimum of 20% of the combined facades of the structure shall employ actual facade protrusions or recesses. A minimum of 20% of the combined linear roof eave or parapet lines of the structure shall employ differences in height of eight feet or more. Roofs with particular slopes may be required by the City to complement existing buildings or otherwise establish a particular aesthetic objective.
(c)
Mechanical equipment, refuse containers and any permitted outdoor storage shall be fully concealed from on-site and off-site ground-level views with materials identical to those used on the building exterior.
(d)
Standard corporate trademark building designs, materials, architectural elements and colors all shall be acceptable, as determined by the City, only as subtly integrated into the more generic design of the building as a whole. Color schemes of all architectural elements shall be muted, neutral, nonreflective and nonuse- or nontenant-specific.
(e)
Public entryways shall be prominently indicated from the building's exterior design and shall be emphasized by on-site traffic flow patterns. All sides of the building that directly face or abut a public street shall have public entrances.
(f)
Loading areas shall be completely screened from surrounding roads and residential, office and commercial properties. Said screening may be through internal loading areas, screening wall that will match the building exterior in materials and design, fully opaque landscaping at time of planting, or combinations of the above. Gates and fencing may be used for security purposes but not for screening and shall be of high aesthetic quality.
(g)
Vehicle access from public streets shall be designed to accommodate peak traffic volumes without disrupting traffic on public streets from inadequate throat length, access drive width or design or inadequate driveway location. The impact of traffic generated by the proposed development shall be demonstrated by a traffic impact analysis performed by the applicant's traffic engineer so as to not adversely impact off-site public roads, intersections and interchanges during the traffic peak associated with a full parking lot. Where the project shall adversely impact off-site traffic, the City may deny the application, may require a size reduction in the proposed development, or may require off-site improvements.
(h)
Parking lot design shall employ interior landscaped islands with a minimum of 400 square feet at all parking islands, and in addition shall provide a minimum of one landscaped island of a minimum of 400 square feet in each parking aisle for every 20 cars in that aisle. Aisle-end islands shall count toward meeting this requirement. Landscaped medians shall be used to break large parking areas into distinct pods, with a maximum of 100 spaces in any one pod.
(i)
A minimum of one cart-return area of 200 square feet shall be provided for every parking area pod. There shall be no exterior cart-return or cart-storage areas located within 25 feet of the building in areas located between the building and a public street.
(j)
The applicant shall demonstrate full compliance with City standards for stormwater, utilities, erosion control and public safety.
(k)
On-site landscaping shall be provided per the landscaping requirements of this chapter, except that building foundation landscaping and paved area landscaping shall be provided at 1.5 times the required landscape points for development in the zoning district.
(l)
A conceptual plan for exterior signage shall be provided at time of detailed site plan or GDP that provides for coordinated and complementary exterior sign location, configurations and colors throughout the planned development. All freestanding signage within the development shall complement the on-building signage. Freestanding sign materials and design shall complement the building exterior and may not exceed the maximum height requirement of this chapter and the Building Code.
(m)
The entire development shall provide for full and safe pedestrian and bicycle access within the development and shall provide appropriate connections to the existing and planned pedestrian and bicycle facilities in the community and in surrounding neighborhoods, including sidewalk connections to all building entrances from all public streets. The development shall provide secure bicycle parking and pedestrian furniture in appropriate quantities and location. A central pedestrian gathering area shall be provided.
(n)
Where such developments are proposed to provide a new location for a business already located within the community, a required condition of approval for the new development shall be a prohibition on conditions of sale, lease or use of the previously occupied building or site which provide limits beyond the range of applicable local, state or federal regulations. If such limits are required, the applicant may seek City approval to demolish the previously occupied structure and prepare the site for some future development.
(o)
The applicant shall provide adequate evidence that the proposed development and uses cannot be adequately sited within or on existing developed properties or buildings within the community.
(p)
The Plan Commission may waive any of the above standards by a three-fourths' vote of members in attendance, but only if supplemental design elements or improvements are incorporated into the project that compensate for the waiver of the particular standard.
§ 550-70 Discrimination against condominium forms of ownership.
It is not the intent of this article, nor any other provision of this chapter, to discriminate against condominium forms of ownership in any manner which conflicts with § 703.27, Wis. Stats. As such, the provisions of this article are designed to ensure that condominium forms of ownership are subject to the same standards and procedures of review and development as other physically identical forms of development.