Form-Based Codes

How Form-Based Codes Can Modernize Your Community’s Zoning

Form-Based Codes example
Which frontage does the code allow? Both. The conventional zoning in this community does not and cannot distinguish between these two frontages. While neither frontage is explicitly required or allowed, the blank frontage is not prohibited because it satisfies criteria about blank walls. At right, note the steps from the sidewalk to the previous entry are replaced with the blank side of the building.

In an article that appears in the August 2013 issue of the Better Cities & Towns newsletter, Tony Perez, Opticos Design’s director of Form-Based Coding, explains how Form-Based Codes can modernize and simplify a community’s zoning. He says that FBCs are designed to directly respond to the physical structure of a community, creating more walkable and adaptable environments.

Read a PDF of the article, or visit the Better! Cities & Towns website to subscribe to the newsletter.

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