See What the Town’s Design Standards, Guidelines Will Look Like

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Come and see what Watertown’s new design standards and guidelines will look like at a community meeting on Jan. 22. 

The meeting – the third in the series of community meetings on the design standards and guidelines – will be held at Watertown Middle School on Thursday, Jan. 22 from 6 to 8 p.m.

At a meeting in October, consultant David Gamble of Gamble Associates explained what design standards and guidelines can do and what they cannot do.

They can:

  • Improve the character of new developments
  • Articulate standards of quality
  • Provide Examples
  • Represent spatial and dimensional criteria graphically

Gamble also warned they can also go too far, and make all new buildings look the same or be too restrictive.

What they can’t do is:

  • Regulate building use
  • Replace zoning or building codes
  • Redesign streets and public rights-of-way
  • Masterplan areas of the town

The town has created a website about the design standards and guidelines: http://www.watertown-ma.gov/index.aspx?NID=831

See previous stories on this subject:

Design Standards – What They Are, What Residents Want

Town Council Rejects Moratorium, Will Fast Track New Design Guidelines

Town Hiring Consultant to Create New Design Standards, Guidelines

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