Community Design Patterns: A Guidebook for Downtown Hilo, June 2010 (Draft)

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m. PREFACE. Downtown Hilo is the "heart" of the greater Hilo area. It evinces a distinctive sense of place with a unique combination of cultural and historical significance, a beautiful coastal landscape, and a long -range community vision to protect and guide its future. There are numerous elements that constitute Downtown's Hilo character or eclectic style, including a variety of architectural styles. In addition, large sections of Downtown Hilo are characterized by low -rise buildings that are integrated with the physical landscape, minimal or zero front yard setbacks that orient the buildings toward the street, short - distance blocks to enhance pedestrian accessibility, and canopies over the sidewalk to protect from sun and rain. The Community Design Patterns: A Guidebook for Downtown Hilo provides direction for both public and private projects that will help to create and maintain the form, scale, and visual character that makes Downtown Hilo truly a place like no other. The Community Design Patterns would not have been possible without the generous assistance of the following individuals: Angela Capogrossi: Photography, Research Scott Fleming, AIA: Editing, Photography, Sketches Chris Hardenbrook: Map Lauren Miyata: Sketches Bethany Morrison: Review And sincere thanks to the many individuals who submitted feedback on earlier drafts — mahalo nui loa! We know that change is inevitable — but the type of change that impacts a community is not. In November 2005 the Hawai'i County Council adopted EnVision Downtown Hilo 2025: A Community -Based Vision and Living Action Plan (EDH 2025) as a guide for the future of Downtown Hilo. The EDH 2025 community visioning and planning process provided citizens with an opportunity to articulate a shared 20- year Overarching Vision for our community that would preserve and promote Downtown Hilo's unique sense of place. Through our community visioning, action planning, and implementation process, we have learned that design matters. Therefore, developing this Guidebook is a practical next step to preserving the form, scale, and visual character that makes Downtown Hilo unique. Encouraging implementation of design patterns Community Design Patterns: A Guidebook for Downtown Hilo •June 2010 DRAFT i I Page