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CITY OF RENTON Ι PERMIT CENTER
DESIGN DISTRICT “B” CHECKLIST
PURPOSE OF CHECKLIST
Ensure compliance with design review regulations located in the Renton Municipal Code in order to:
•Maintain and protect property values;
•Enhance the general appearance of the City;
•Encourage creativity in building and site design;
•Achieve predictability, balanced with flexibility; and
•Consider the individual merits of proposals.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICANTS
This design district checklist asks you to describe some basic information about your proposal. The City will use this
checklist to determine whether the your proposal complies with the Urban Design Regulations in the Renton Municipal
Code (RMC 4-3-100). Answer the questions briefly, with the most precise information known, or give the best
description you can.
There are two categories that have been established: (a) “minimum standards” that must be met, and (b) “guidelines”
that, while not mandatory, are considered by the Planning Director in determining if the proposed action meets the
intent of the design guidelines.
If you really do not know the answer, or if a question does not apply to your proposal, write "do not know" or "does
not apply". Complete answers to the questions now may avoid unnecessary delays later.
SITE DESIGN AND BUILDING LOCATION
Intent: To ensure that buildings are located in relation to streets and other buildings so that the Vision of the City of
Renton can be realized for a high-density urban environment; so that businesses enjoy visibility from public rights-of-
way; and to encourage pedestrian activity throughout the district.
Site Design and Street Pattern:
Intent: To ensure that the City of Renton Vision can be realized within the Urban Center Districts; plan districts that
are organized for efficiency while maintaining flexibility for future development at high urban densities and
intensities of use; create and maintain a safe, convenient network of streets of varying dimensions for vehicle
circulation; and provide service to businesses.
Minimum Standard: Maintain existing grid street pattern.
2.Building Location and Orientation:
Intent: To ensure visibility of businesses; establish active, lively uses along sidewalks and pedestrian pathways;
organize buildings in such a way that pedestrian use of the district is facilitated; encourage siting of structures so
that natural light and solar access are available to other structures and open space; enhance the visual character
and definition of streets within the district; provide an appropriate transition between buildings, parking areas, and
other land uses and the street; and increase privacy for residential uses located near the street.
Minimum Standard: Orient buildings to the street with clear connections to the sidewalk.
Minimum Standard: The front entry of a building shall not be oriented to a drive aisle, but instead a public or
private street or landscaped pedestrian-only courtyard.
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3. Building Entries:
Intent: To make building entrances convenient to locate and easy to access, and ensure that building entries
further the pedestrian nature of the fronting sidewalk and urban character of the district.
Minimum Standard: A primary entrance of each building shall be located on the facade facing a street, shall be
prominent, visible from the street, connected by a walkway to the public sidewalk, and include human-scale
elements.
Minimum Standard: Multiple buildings on the same site shall provide a continuous network of pedestrian paths
and open spaces that incorporate landscaping to provide a directed view to building entries.
Minimum Standard: Ground floor units shall be directly accessible from the street or an open space such as a
courtyard or garden that is accessible from the street.
Minimum Standard: Secondary access (not fronting on a street) shall have weather protection at least 4-1/2 feet
wide over the entrance or other similar indicator of access.
Minimum Standard: Pedestrian access shall be provided to the building from property edges, adjacent lots,
abutting street intersections, crosswalks, and transit stops.
Minimum Standard: Features such as entries, lobbies, and display windows should be oriented to a street or
pedestrian-oriented space; otherwise, screening or decorative features such as trellises, artwork, murals,
landscaping, or combinations thereof should be incorporated into the street-oriented facade.
Guideline: Front yards should provide transition space between the public street and the private residence such as
a porch, landscaped area, terrace, or similar feature.
4. Transition to Surrounding Development:
Intent: To shape redevelopment projects so that the character and value of Renton’s long established, existing
neighborhoods are preserved.
Minimum Standard: Careful siting and design treatment are necessary to achieve a compatible transition where
new buildings differ from surrounding development in terms of building height, bulk and scale. At least one of the
following design elements shall be considered to promote a transition to surrounding uses:
a. Setbacks at the side or rear of a building may be increased in order to reduce the bulk and scale of larger
buildings and so that sunlight reaches adjacent yards; or
b. Building articulation provided to divide a larger architectural element into smaller pieces; or
c. Roof lines, roof pitches, and roof shapes designed to reduce apparent bulk and transition with existing
development.
5. Service Element Location and Design:
Intent: To reduce the potential negative impacts of service elements (i.e., waste receptacles, loading docks) by
locating service and loading areas away from high-volume pedestrian areas, and screening them from view in high
visibility areas.
Minimum Standard: Service elements shall be located and designed to minimize the impacts on the pedestrian
environment and adjacent uses. Service elements shall be concentrated and located where they are accessible to
service vehicles and convenient for tenant use (see illustration, RMC 4-3-100E7e).
Minimum Standard: Garbage, recycling collection, and utility areas shall be enclosed, consistent with RMC 4-4-090,
Refuse and Recyclables Standards, and RMC 4-4-095, Screening and Storage Height/Location Limitations.
Minimum Standard: In addition to standard enclosure requirements, garbage, recycling collection, and utility areas
shall be enclosed on all sides, including the roof and screened around their perimeter by a wall or fence and have
self-closing doors (see illustration, RMC 4-3-100E7f).
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Minimum Standard: The use of chain link, plastic, or wire fencing is prohibited.
Minimum Standard: If the service area is adjacent to a street, pathway, or pedestrian-oriented space, a landscaped
planting strip, minimum 3 feet wide, shall be located on 3 sides of such facility.
Guideline: Service enclosure fences should be made of masonry, ornamental metal or wood, or some combination
of the three.
6. Gateways:
Intent: To distinguish gateways as primary entrances to districts or to the City; provide special design features and
architectural elements at gateways; and ensure that gateways, while they are distinctive within the context of the
district, are compatible with the district in form and scale.
Minimum Standard: Developments located at district gateways shall be marked with visually prominent features
(see illustration, subsection RMC 4-3-100.E7g).
Minimum Standard: Gateway elements shall be oriented toward and scaled for both pedestrians and vehicles (see
illustration, subsection RMC 4-3-100.E7h).
Minimum Standard: Visual prominence shall be distinguished by two or more of the following:
a. Public art;
b. Monuments;
c. Special landscape treatment;
d. Open space/plaza;
e. Identifying building form;
f. Special paving, unique pedestrian scale lighting, or bollards;
g. Prominent architectural features (trellis, arbor, pergola, or gazebo);
h. Signage, displaying neighborhood or district entry identification (commercial signs are not allowed).
PARKING AND VEHICULAR ACCESS
Intent: To provide safe, convenient access to the Urban Center and the Center Village; incorporate various modes
of transportation, including public mass transit, in order to reduce traffic volumes and other impacts from vehicles;
ensure sufficient parking is provided, while encouraging creativity in reducing the impacts of parking areas; allow
an active pedestrian environment by maintaining contiguous street frontages, without parking lot siting along
sidewalks and building facades; minimize the visual impact of parking lots; and use access streets and parking to
maintain an urban edge to the district.
1. Location of Parking:
Intent: To maintain active pedestrian environments along streets by placing parking lots primarily in back of
buildings.
Minimum Standard: No surface parking shall be located between a building and the front property line or the
building and side property line on the street side of a corner lot.
Guideline: In areas of mixed use development, shared parking is recommended.
2. Design of Surface Parking:
Intent: To ensure safety of users of parking areas, convenience to businesses, and reduce the impact of parking lots
wherever possible.
3. Structured Parking Garages:
4. Intent: To more efficiently use land needed for vehicle parking; encourage the use of structured parking
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throughout the Urban Center and the Center Village; physically and visually integrate parking garages with other
uses; and reduce the overall impact of parking garages when they are located in proximity to the designated
pedestrian environment.
Guideline: Attached personal parking garages at-grade should be individualized and not enclose more than two
cars per enclosed space. Such garages should be architecturally integrated into the whole development.
Guideline: Multiple-user parking garages at-grade should be enclosed or screened from view through any
combination of walls, decorative grilles, or trellis work with landscaping.
Guideline: Personal parking garages should be individualized whenever possible with separate entries and
architectural detailing in character with the lower density district.
Guideline: Large multi-user parking garages are discouraged in this lower density district and, if provided, should
be located below grade whenever possible.
4. Vehicular Access:
Intent: To maintain a contiguous, uninterrupted sidewalk by minimizing, consolidating and/or eliminating vehicular
access off streets within pedestrian environments and/or designated pedestrian-oriented streets.
Minimum Standard: Parking lots and garages shall be accessed from alleys when available.
Guideline: Garage entryways and/or driveways accessible only from a street should not impede pedestrian
circulation along the sidewalk.
Guideline: Curb cuts should be minimized whenever possible through the use of shared driveways.
PEDESTRIAN ENVIRONMENT:
Intent: To enhance the urban character of development in the Urban Center and the Center Village by creating
pedestrian networks and by providing strong links from streets and drives to building entrances; make the pedestrian
environment safer and more convenient, comfortable, and pleasant to walk between businesses, on sidewalks, to and
from access points, and through parking lots; and promote the use of multi-modal and public transportation systems in
order to reduce other vehicular traffic.
1. Pathways through Parking Lots:
Intent: To provide safe and attractive pedestrian connections to buildings, parking garages, and parking lots.
2. Pedestrian Circulation:
Intent: To create a network of linkages for pedestrians to improve safety and convenience and enhance the
pedestrian environment.
Guideline: Delineation of pathways may be through the use of architectural features, such as trellises, railings, low
seat walls, or similar treatment.
Guideline: Mid-block connections are desirable where a strong linkage between uses can be established.
Guideline: Decorative fences, with the exception of chain link fences, may be allowed when appropriate to the
situation.
3. Pedestrian Amenities:
Intent: To create attractive spaces that unify the building and street environments and are inviting and comfortable
for pedestrians; and provide publicly accessible areas that function for a variety of activities, at all times of the year,
and under typical seasonal weather conditions.
LANDSCAPING/RECREATION AREAS/COMMON OPEN SPACE
Intent: To provide visual relief in areas of expansive paving or structures; define logical areas of pedestrian and
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vehicular circulation; and add to the aesthetic enjoyment of the area by the community. To have areas suitable for both
passive and active recreation by residents, workers, and visitors; provide these areas in sufficient amounts and in safe
and convenient locations; and provide the opportunity for community gathering in places centrally located and
designed to encourage such activity.
1. Landscaping:
Intent: Landscaping is intended to reinforce the architecture to concept of the area; provide visual and climatic
relief in areas of expansive paving or structures; channelize and define logical areas of pedestrian and vehicular
circulation; and add to the aesthetic enjoyment of the area by the community.
Minimum Standard: All pervious areas shall be landscaped (see RMC 4-4-070, Landscaping).
Minimum Standard: Street trees are required and shall be located between the curb edge and building, as
determined by the City of Renton.
Minimum Standard: On designated pedestrian-oriented streets, street trees shall be installed with tree grates. For
all other streets, street tree treatment shall be as determined by the City of Renton (see illustration, subsection
RMC 4-3-100.H3a).
Minimum Standard: The proposed landscaping shall be consistent with the design intent and program of the
building, the site, and use.
Minimum Standard: The landscape plan shall demonstrate how the proposed landscaping, through the use of plant
material and nonvegetative elements, reinforces the architecture or concept of the development.
Minimum Standard: Surface parking areas shall be screened by landscaping in order to reduce views of parked cars
from streets (see RMC 4-4-080F7, Landscape Requirements). Such landscaping shall be at least 10 feet in width as
measured from the sidewalk (see illustration, subsection RMC 4-3-100.H3b).
Minimum Standard: Trees at an average minimum rate of one tree per 30 lineal feet of street frontage. Permitted
tree species are those that reach a mature height of at least 35 feet. Minimum height or caliper at planting shall be
eight feet or two inch caliper (as measured four feet from the top of the root ball) respectively.
Minimum Standard: Shrubs at the minimum rate of one per 20 square feet of landscaped area. Shrubs shall be at
least 12 inches tall at planting and have a mature height between three and four feet.
Minimum Standard: Ground cover shall be planted in sufficient quantities to provide at least 90 percent coverage
of the landscaped area within three years of installation.
Minimum Standard: The applicant shall provide a maintenance assurance device, prior to occupancy, for a period
of not less than three years and in sufficient amount to ensure required landscape standards have been met by the
third year following installation.
Minimum Standard: Surface parking with more than 14 stalls shall be landscaped as follows:
a. Required amount:
Total number of spaces Minimum Required Landscape Area*
15 to 50 15 square feet/parking space
51 to 99 25 square feet/parking space
100 or more 35 square feet/parking space
*Landscape area calculations above and planting requirements below exclude perimeter
parking lot landscaping areas.
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b. Provide trees, shrubs, and ground cover in the required interior parking lot landscape areas.
c. Plant at least one tree for every six parking spaces. Permitted tree species are those that reach a mature
height of at least 35 feet. Minimum height or caliper at planting shall be eight feet or two inch caliper (as
measured four feet from the top of the root ball) respectively.
d. Plant shrubs at a rate of five per 100 square feet of landscape area. Shrubs shall be at least 16 inches tall at
planting and have a mature height between three and four feet.
e. Up to 50 percent of shrubs may be deciduous.
f. Select and plant ground cover so as to provide 90 percent coverage within three years of planting;
provided, that mulch is applied until plant coverage is complete.
g. Do not locate a parking stall more than 50 feet from a landscape area.
Minimum Standard: Regular maintenance shall be provided to ensure that plant materials are kept healthy and
that dead or dying plant materials are replaced.
Minimum Standard: Underground, automatic irrigation systems are required in all landscape areas.
Guideline: Landscaping should be used to soften and integrate the bulk of buildings.
Guideline: Landscaping should be provided that appropriately provides either screening of unwanted views or
focuses attention to preferred views.
Guideline: Use of low maintenance, drought-resistant landscape material is encouraged.
Guideline: Choice of materials should reflect the level of maintenance that will be available.
Guideline: Seasonal landscaping and container plantings are encouraged, particularly at building entries and in
publicly accessible spaces.
Guideline: Window boxes, containers for plantings, hanging baskets, or other planting feature elements should be
made of weather-resistant materials that can be reasonably maintained.
Guideline: Landscaping should be used to screen parking lots from adjacent or neighboring properties.
Guideline: Front yards should be visible from the street and visually contribute to the streetscape.
Guideline: Decorative walls and fencing are encouraged when architecturally integrated into the project.
2. Recreation Areas and Common Open Space:
Intent: To ensure that districts have areas suitable for both passive and active recreation by residents, workers,
and visitors and that these areas are of sufficient size for the intended activity and in convenient locations; create
usable, accessible, and inviting open space that is accessible to the public; and promote pedestrian activity on
pedestrian-oriented streets particularly at street corners.
Minimum Standard: Attached housing developments shall provide a minimum area of private usable open space
equal to 150 square feet per unit of which 100 square feet are contiguous. Such space may include porches,
balconies, yards, and decks.
BUILDING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
Intent: To encourage building design that is unique and urban in character, comfortable on a human scale, and uses
appropriate building materials that are suitable for the Pacific Northwest climate. To discourage franchise retail
architecture.
1. Building Character and Massing
Intent: To ensure that buildings are not bland and visually appear to be at a human scale; and ensure that all sides
of a building, that can be seen by the public, are visually interesting.
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Minimum Standard: All building facades shall include modulation or articulation at intervals of no more than 20
feet).
Guideline: Building facades should be modulated and/or articulated with architectural elements to reduce the
apparent size of new buildings, break up long blank walls, add visual interest, and enhance the character of the
neighborhood.
Guideline: Articulation, modulation, and their intervals should create a sense of scale important to residential
buildings.
Guideline: A variety of modulations and articulations should be employed to add visual interest and to reduce the
bulk and scale of large projects.
Guideline: Building modulations should be a minimum of two feet in depth and four feet in width.
2. Ground-Level Details:
Intent: To ensure that buildings are visually interesting and reinforce the intended human-scale character of the
pedestrian environment; and ensure that all sides of a building within near or distant public view have visual
interest.
Minimum Standard: Untreated blank walls visible from public streets, sidewalks, or interior pedestrian pathways
are prohibited. A wall (including building facades and retaining walls) is considered a blank wall if:
a. It is a ground floor wall or portion of a ground floor wall over six feet in height, has a horizontal length
greater than 15 feet, and does not include a window, door, building modulation or other architectural
detailing; or
b. Any portion of a ground floor wall having a surface area of 400 square feet or greater and does not include
a window, door, building modulation or other architectural detailing.
Minimum Standard: Where blank walls are required or unavoidable, blank walls shall be treated with one or more
of the following (see illustration, subsection RMC 4-3-100.I5d):
a. A planting bed at least five feet in width containing trees, shrubs, evergreen ground cover, or vines
adjacent to the blank wall;
b. Trellis or other vine supports with evergreen climbing vines;
c. Architectural detailing such as reveals, contrasting materials, or other special detailing that meets the
intent of this standard;
d. Artwork, such as bas-relief sculpture, mural, or similar; or
e. Seating area with special paving and seasonal planting.
Minimum Standard: Treatment of blank walls shall be proportional to the wall.
Minimum Standard: Provide human-scaled elements such as a lighting fixture, trellis, or other landscape feature
along the facade’s ground floor.
Minimum Standard: Facades on designated pedestrian-oriented streets shall have at least 75 percent of the linear
frontage of the ground floor facade (as measured on a true elevation facing the designated pedestrian-oriented
street) comprised of transparent windows and/or doors.
Minimum Standard: Other facade window requirements include the following:
a. Building facades must have clear windows with visibility into and out of the building. However, screening
may be applied to provide shade and energy efficiency. The minimum amount of light transmittance for
windows shall be 50percent.
b. Display windows shall be designed for frequent change of merchandise, rather than permanent displays.
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c.Where windows or storefronts occur, they must principally contain clear glazing.
d.Tinted and dark glass, highly reflective (mirror-type) glass and film are prohibited.
Guideline: Use of material variations such as colors, brick, shingles, stucco, and horizontal wood siding is
encouraged.
3.Building Roof Lines:
Intent: To ensure that roof forms provide distinctive profiles and interest consistent with an urban project and
contribute to the visual continuity of the district.
Guideline: Buildings containing predominantly residential uses should have pitched roofs with a minimum slope of
one to four. Such roofs should have dormers or intersecting roof forms that break up the massiveness of a
continuous, uninterrupted sloping roof.
Guideline: Roof colors should be dark.
4.Building Materials:
Intent: To ensure high standards of quality and effective maintenance over time; encourage the use of materials
that reduce the visual bulk of large buildings; and encourage the use of materials that add visual interest to the
neighborhood.
Minimum Standard: All sides of buildings visible from a street, pathway, parking area, or open space shall be
finished on all sides with the same building materials, detailing, and color scheme, or if different, with materials of
the same quality.
Minimum Standard: Materials, individually or in combination, shall have an attractive texture, pattern, and quality
of detailing for all visible facades.
Minimum Standard: Materials shall be durable, high quality, and reasonably maintained.
Guideline: Building materials should be attractive, durable, and consistent with more traditional urban
development. Appropriate examples would include brick, integrally colored concrete masonry, pre-finished metal,
stone, steel, glass, and cast-in-place concrete.
Guideline: Concrete walls should be enhanced by texturing, reveals, snap-tie patterns, coloring with a concrete
coating or admixture, or by incorporating embossed or sculpted surfaces, mosaics, or artwork.
Guideline: Concrete block walls should be enhanced with integral color, textured blocks and colored mortar,
decorative bond pattern and/or incorporate other masonry materials.
Guideline: Stucco and similar troweled finishes should be used in combination with other more highly textured
finishes or accents. They should not be used at the base of buildings between the finished floor elevation and four
feet (4') above.
Guideline: Use of material variations such as colors, brick or metal banding or patterns, or textural changes is
encouraged.