The City has hired Design Workshop, a national architecture, planning and urban design firm, to consolidate and update the West End Historic District Guidelines and the Downtown Design Guidelines into one user-friendly resource.
Throughout the fall and winter, the project team will be looking at all of the City’s existing studies and incorporating and updating past recommendations with current market and design trends. They will also be soliciting input from a variety of downtown stakeholders, including design professionals; downtown residents; downtown business owners and employees; developers and the general public through a series of public meetings that will be held during the course of the project.
The second piece will be to create a virtual three-dimensional model to allow the City and the public to visualize the impact of projects and recommendations.
At the conclusion of the project in the spring of 2017, Design Workshop will present the draft guidelines to the Design Review Board and City Council for review and adoption.
Project Scope
- Review existing reports, including the Sasaki Downtown Master Plan, Downtown Streetscape Master Plan and current Downtown Design Guidelines
- Review current project trends
- Develop methodology to create new standards that support Greenville’s uniqueness
- Examine existing master plans to determine applicability with current trends and make recommendations for changes (if needed) to the Downtown Master Plan
- Review and recommend boundaries for C-4 zoning district, including vehicular and pedestrian zones
- Create new/update design guidelines that preserve and enhance Greenville’s unique character while allowing growth to continue
- Evaluate the “no height limit” and determine if certain districts or areas should have a height limit
- Develop requirements to ensure that all spaces are active at the pedestrian level
- Create guidelines for public and private spaces
- Review and create design guidelines for signage for each of the key areas in downtown, including Main Street, side streets and historic properties
- Develop a 3D model in cooperation with the City’s GIS staff to allow visualization of potential development over time that can be used to illustrate guidelines impact on the street and skyline and can be used in public presentations