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BRIDGET HALL GRUMETA new ordinance under consideration would guide giant retailers to add architectural details and landscaping to their stores.
NEW PORT RICHEY - The County Commission will get its first glimpse Tuesday of a proposed ordinance that would require giant retailers to soften their boxy look with architectural features and extra landscaping.
The measure, which would be considered at public hearings June 22 and July 13, would affect new stores larger than 75,000 square feet. But it might not affect the proposed 203,700-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter near Beacon Woods, since the retailer filed its plans months ago.
"My guess is, we can't force them to follow the ordinance 100 percent," County Administrator John Gallagher said Friday. "But my understanding is that they have a willingness to meet the intent of the ordinance."
It was the neighbors fighting that Wal-Mart who suggested a big box ordinance to make the supersized stores more palatable. Although some parts look good, Beacon Woods Civic Association vice president Ray Watson said, the measure doesn't address the extra traffic drawn by giant stores.
"It's not going to do much to increase the pressure on Wal-Mart to not put traffic through Beacon Woods," he said, "and that's our concern."
County planners say traffic is addressed when the plans are reviewed for a specific project. The goal of the big box ordinance, they say, is to improve the appearance of the mega-stores.
The measure also tries to create safer paths for people crossing the giant parking lots. And it tries to limit the light and noise pollution by requiring shielded light fixtures and bushy buffers.
The "Large-Scale Commercial Design Standards Ordinance" would require major new stores to do the following:
Use varying colors and textures (such as raised or recessed brick) to break up the long, blank look of outside walls.
Include architectural features such as columns, canopies or covered porches.
Create eye-catching entrances with arches, peaked roofs, landscaped seating areas, tile work or moldings, among other options.
Plant greenery along at least half of the facade.
Hide flat rooflines behind gables or short decorative walls.
Tuck loading docks and garbage bins behind 8-foot-high walls and 6-foot-tall trees.
Create landscape-lined sidewalks linking parking areas to the store.
Divide the parking lot into sections with only 100 spaces per section (or 150 spaces per section, if the lot has more than 500 spaces). Separate the parking sections with landscaping or other architectural features. Place at least 20 percent of the parking on the sides or rear of the building.
Provide a 35-foot-wide buffer of trees and plants along any part of the property facing the road.
Much of the language comes from a similar ordinance in Hernando County, which has seen a new Wal-Mart Supercenter and a new Sam's Club built in Spring Hill under the standards.
"Basically I think that they have made a very nice visual improvement over what had been done before," said Jerry Greif, Hernando County's chief planner. "As the increased landscaping gets older and matures, it's going to make more of an impression."
- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com