Page 75 - Greensboro, NC-GSO 2040 Comprehensive Plan

Planned Industrial Campuses should reflect these characteristics:
Neighborhood and District Scale Activity Centers should reflect these
1. Employment or employment support uses only are permitted. Support could characteristics:
include retail, services, and housing but only if new uses do not undermine the
potential for future job creation. 1. Development (site and buildings) is properly scaled to the needs of residents in
2. Employment areas are protected from erosion by non-employment uses so the appropriate market area. The scale and types of activities accommodated
match the service area. A District Scale Activity Center is physically larger,
that their viability for industrial and other uses that create quality, living-wage serves a wider market area, and has a greater breadth of businesses, services,
jobs is not lessened. This could include guarding against loss of important and activities than a Neighborhood Activity Center, and draws vehicular traffic
road or rail access, having contiguous land broken up into smaller pieces, from a larger area, requiring more space for parking, loading, and greater
or introducing new housing or other uses that can later claim that the spacing between vehicular access driveways.
employment uses are not compatible.
2. Development adjacent to residential neighborhoods, parks, or other low
3. They have a demonstrated tolerance for noise, trucking, and other off-site intensity uses gives consideration to light, traffic, noise, and other potential
impacts. impacts of the development.
4. They are sufficiently supported by roadways, rail lines, and other infrastructure. 3. Buildings and uses are easy to access on foot or by bike. These Centers include
5. Employment and employees are supported and connected through transit, safe paths, bike racks, benches and other amenities for non-motorized
bicycle and pedestrian access and connections, and the installation of travelers.
high-quality infrastructure such as bus shelters, heating, lights, and data 4. These Centers coordinate adjacent site designs and public improvements
displays. to provide comfortable sidewalk space for pedestrian movement, curb
6. Adaptive reuse of older industrial and commercial property is encouraged. “bump-out” extensions, street trees/lighting/furniture, sidewalk cafés, and an
7. Inactive uses, such as storage facilities, are screened by active uses along street active pedestrian-friendly environment.
frontages or located above or below street level.
Regional Scale Activity Centers, in addition to the characteristics referenced
in Neighborhood and District Scale Activity Centers, should also reflect these
ACTIVITY CENTERS characteristics:
Ranging in size from a corner business at the intersection of two collector roads to 1. Development is in close proximity and has a high degree of accessibility to
regional shopping centers, activity centers attract people and are often the focus of High Frequency Transit Service.
community, civic, and social or commercial activity. Location, accessibility, size, and
the extent and diversity of activities within an activity center influence the nature of 2. Safe access by automobile to and from the site is essential, as are logical and
economic development opportunities, potential impacts on nearby uses, and the clear driving paths within developments.
way in which it is enjoyed by the community. 3. Cross access easements between commercial properties limit roadway
congestion and contribute to walkable commercial environments.
The size of the activity center correlates with the market area it serves. Commercial 4. Development is separated from residential neighborhoods and other low
centers that serve as a convenience to a neighborhood have a much smaller intensity uses.
footprint than activity centers that serve many neighborhoods, or that serve the
city as a whole, as does a regional shopping center or sports facility. Regional scaled 5. Infrastructure capacity serves the highest densities and intensities of use.
activity centers attract visitors from all of Greensboro and beyond. The core of 6. Storm water management is integrated into site plans and landscape plans.
downtown Greensboro stands alone as a unique and important activity center.
7. Adopted design standards and best design practices result in pedestrian-scaled
No matter their size, activity centers have a common structure. Development building design that breaks up uninterrupted building walls and blank facades
intensity and building bulk is most often highest near the heart of an activity center with the use of architecture, fenestration, building material changes, and
(often described as the 100% intersection) and transition to less intense forms as greenwalls.
it moves towards surrounding neighborhoods. Gateways and landmarks help to
define the entries to activity centers. Many activity centers arise organically from
the interaction of people and activity at the crossroads of two or more corridors,
and naturally have more than one point, direction, or mode of ingress/egress.
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