What will Ocean Park Look Like?

At the Bayfront Advisory Meeting on August 15, the commission formulated goals for the coming year and assessed progress made toward last year’s goals.

Discussion was wide ranging and included looking ahead to the update to the Shore Drive Corridor Plan and Design Guidelines for future development on Shore Drive. There was a clarification of form-based code which is currently in force at the Oceanfront but not in the Shore Drive Area. “Form-based codes foster predictable built results and a high-quality public realm by using physical form rather than separation of uses as the organizing principle. They address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The standards in form-based codes, presented in both diagrams and words, are keyed to a regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development rather than only distinctions in uses. 

This contrasts with conventional zoning’s focus on the micromanagement and segregation of land uses and the control of development intensity through abstract and uncoordinated parameters (such as floor area ratio, dwellings per acre, and minimum setbacks) to the neglect of an integrated built form. Form-based codes should not be confused with design guidelines or general statements of policy. These codes are mandatory, not advisory, and are adopted into law as regulations. “

The commission also heard a presentation by Deputy City Attorney, Rod Ingram about “Public Meetings and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act” .