§ 9.1 — Intent

Downtown Santa Clara is to be an active, pedestrian-oriented urban environment that is comfortable, safe, and easy to navigate by foot, bicycle, or any mode of vehicular transit. As such, careful attention must be given to the way that buildings shape and front Downtown’s network of public streets, paseos, and open spaces—also known as the “Public Realm.” The space between the travel lanes of a street and the building, and including the building’s ground floor facade, is defined as “frontage.” In order to create a high-quality urban environment, the design of that frontage must be calibrated to the ground-floor use of the adjacent buildings and to the unified Downtown character envisioned in the Precise Plan. Frontages must be designed to provide an appropriate degree of privacy or transparency relative to the needs of the public-facing ground-floor use. Commercial shops and spaces rely on more exposure for their success, while ground-floor residences need added privacy so they aren’t forced to close their blinds and can therefore encourage “eyes on the street.” This section provides the design standards and guidelines for the private portion of this frontage.