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

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1.3. AUTHORITY. This Guidebook is an educational tool intended to communicate sound design and development practices that will enhance livability in Downtown Hilo. The recommendations contained herein are desirable, but they are not mandatory. The Guidebook will be distributed to developers, architects, and additional key stakeholders and promoted as best practices to be incorporated in both public and private projects. The County of Hawai'i Planning Department shall be responsible for oversight of this document. Design patterns may already be regulated by applicable County Code requirements and administered by applicable County Departments. 1.4. WHAT ARE DESIGN PATTERNS? Design patterns are features of buildings, building sites, and communities that when defined and applied endeavors to form the foundation for a vibrant and livable community. Design patterns can be applied to an individual parcel; however, when they are applied collectively, they become powerful tools for forming communities. These design patterns are intended to guide private developers, government agencies, and community organizations in the creation of attractive, functional, and meaningful places, whether the place is a building site, park, street block, neighborhood, or a community. Hence, design patterns can be building - related features, like the form of roofs, entrances, and materials, and they can address site development or macroscopic concerns such as infill development, density, public streets, and public art. 1.5. GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARY AND MAP. Community Design Patterns is applicable to the development of all land parcels within the Downtown Hilo Commercial District (CDH) and includes the street frontage of parcels that run along the mauka (western) side of Kilauea Avenue from Ponahawai Street to KOkOau Street (see map on following page). Downtown Hilo includes approximately 124 acres and is formed by a grid design with short blocks and small parcels — ranging from approximately 6.92 to 118,934.28 sq. ft. in size, with a mean parcel size of 12,624.72 sq. ft. Community Design Patterns: A Guidebook for Downtown Hilo • June 2010 DRAFT v I Page