4.0 DESIGN GUIDELINES Design Guidelines for Future Development
The Indiana Community University District Master Plan is unique in that the area studied crosses municipal and institutional borders. The plan does not represent a singular focused set of recommendations tailored only for one entity, and, as such, the plan should not be formally “adopted” as a community master plan would be. Rather, our goal is that the District Partners support the plan’s recommendations, and consider implementing it through: Community Master Plans Each community and IUP proactively prepare comprehensive master plans to guide community development and establish strategies for encouraging on-going improvements to their respective places. This Indiana Community University District Master Plan should be relied upon in the preparation of future community and campus master plans as a reference for specific ideas and policies. Zoning Ordinances The Borough currently regulates the development of private property through the Chapter 460: Zoning and related documents. For those communities with zoning ordinances, under the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enabling legislation (Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code Act of 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247 as reenacted and amended) there are two specific zoning tools indicated for guiding development patterns: a Planned Residential Development (PRD) ordinance, and a Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) ordinance. The Borough previously adopted a TND ordinance. While the idea of a TND ordinance made sense enough to lead to the adoption of such an ordinance, the practical application of the ordinance proved to be problematic, and it was repealed in 2014. One of the key issues with the ordinance was the fact that the District was defined too broadly and did not adequately address the need to create a transition from higher density areas to lower density neighborhoods. A second issue with the ordinance was the lack of specificity within the ordinance to manage architectural materials, details and building location. We recommend that the Borough consider a new draft of a TND that would address concerns about the previous ordinance; another (perhaps) more effective approach would adopt a new district ordinances for the Downtown - Campus Area and along the Neighborhood-Campus Area consistent with Figure 20. Planning Areas.
White Township should consider adopting a zoning ordinance, to help ensure an orderly redevelopment of this important part of the township. Adopting a new ordinance will also help avoid new high density or high activity developments impacting existing low density rural residential areas. Development Regulations White Township relies upon the development regulations outlined in “Chapter 275: Subdivision and Land Development” to shape new development, including Article VI Multifamily Residential Development and Article VII Commercial and Industrial Developments. While these development regulations do not proscribe where these lands uses may be built in the township, they offer a thorough set of metrics and guidelines for how the land uses may be developed. Should the township establish a set of zoning ordinances, the articles noted above would be a good first draft. If a zoning ordinance is not pursued, then we recommend that the articles be amended to incorporate some of the metrics discussed in Section 4 of this report.
Indiana Community University District
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