Franklin Historic District Design Guidelines

DRAFT FRANKLIN HISTORIC DISTRICT DESIGN GUIDELINES 51 chapter 2 Placement and Orientation • Maintain the alignment of existing front yard setbacks on the street while adhering to the Zoning Ordinance setback requirements. • Maintain the rhythm of buildings and side yards along the street. Building Form • Design the massing, size, scale, and proportions of new buildings to be compatible with nearby historic buildings. • Design new residential buildings to complement rather than detract from the character of the historic district. • Make new buildings compatible with adjacent building floor-to-ceiling heights. Appropriate heights for new construction range from eight feet to ten feet. • Use similar cornice alignment, foundation heights, and window and door heights as adjacent buildings. • Use roof and façade breaks to achieve similar forms to those of historic residential buildings in the district. • In areas where historic garages are generally detached, new garages should appear to be detached. Place garages in traditional locations behind the rear plane of the main form of the house or as otherwise not be visible from the street. • Design the building and site improvements to account for minimum landscape surface requirements in the Zoning Ordinance. Landscape surface area for new residential buildings in the Planned District (PD) should not exceed 35 percent.