| Accessory Structures | A structure detached from a principal building, located on the same lot and incidental to the principal use. |
| Apartment Building | Any building or portion thereof which contains three or more dwelling units. |
| Architecture | The practice of designing and building structures. |
| Articulation | The dividing or segmenting of building form into smaller components to create a sense of scale. Articulation may be described in terms of roughness of materials, number of openings, patterns in materials, differences in materials, massing, use of detailing, building setbacks and stepbacks, etc. |
| Balance | An aspect of rhythm achieved by matching different symmetrical and asymmetrical elements which, when perceived as a whole, display harmony or equilibrium. |
| Bay Spacing | The spacing between structural columns (horizontal) and beams (vertical). |
| Berm | A mound or wall of earth that may be landscaped to create a screen or barrier. |
| Balcony | A platform enclosed by a railing or parapet which is suspended or cantilevered from, or supported solely by the principal structure; for private use of tenants or for exterior access to above-grade living units. |
| Block Length | The longest dimension of a block, from one intersection to the next. |
| Built Environment | The elements that are generally built or made by people as contrasted with natural processes. |
| Business District | A commercial district or large-scale commercial development. |
| Carport | An automobile shelter having one or more sides open. |
| Canopy | A roofed structure constructed of fabric or other material placed so as to extend outward from a building providing a protective shield for doors, windows, and other openings, supported by the building and supports extended to the ground directly under the canopy or cantilevered from the building. |
| Compatible | Projects that give an appearance of existing together without conflict with respect to site architecture, and landscaping design. |
| Commercial District | A district comprised primarily of commercial and business activities. |
| Community Design Framework | The land use activities, circulation pathways and open space systems that define community character. |
| Cul-de-sac | A street with a single common ingress and egress, and with a turnaround at the end. |
| Daylighting | Strategies for increasing the percentage of illumination provided by natural light in a building, such as light shelves, toplighting, skylights, window, optimized building orientation and room layout, and devices used to redirect or transport light. |
| Dead-end Street | A local street open and accessible by cars at one end only. |
| Design | To create, fashion and arrange details or elements. The creation and execution of aesthetic and functional elements. |
| Design Continuity | A unifying or connecting theme or physical feature for a particular setting or place, provided by one or more design elements of the natural or created environment. The use of design continuity helps to avoid abrupt and/or severe differences in character with adjacent properties. |
| Design Review | The comprehensive evaluation of a development and its impact on neighborhood properties and the community as a whole, from the standpoint of site and landscape design, architecture, materials, colors, lighting and signs, in accordance with a set of adopted guidelines and standards. |
| Density | The number of dwelling units per acre. |
| Eave | The underside of a sloping roof projecting beyond the wall of a building. |
| Elevation | A mechanically accurate “head-on” drawing of a face of a building or object, without the allowance for the effect of the laws of perspective. Any measurement on an elevation will be in a fixed proportion, or scale, to the corresponding measurement on the real building. |
| Facade | That portion of any exterior elevation on the building extending from grade to top of the parapet, wall, or eaves and the entire width of the building elevation. |
| Fascia | A flat board with a vertical face that forms the trim along the edge of a flat roof, or along the horizontal, or eaves, or sides of pitched roof. The rain gutter is often mounted on the fascia. |
| Fenestration | Windows, doors and other openings in building walls. |
| Floor Area Ratio | The relationship of the total floor area of a building to the land area of the parcel as defined in a ratio in which the numerator is the floor area and the denominator is the parcel area. |
| Footprint | The outline of a building at all of those points where it meets the ground. |
| Form | The shape of a building or architectural features such as roofs. |
| Franchise/Corporate Architecture | Buildings that use a universal corporate architectural style, colors and signage. |
| Frontage, Lot or Parcel | The portion of a property that abuts one side of a public street which allows primary access to the property. |
| Gateway | A point along a roadway entering a city, or other defined planning area, at which a motorist gains a sense of having left the previous environs and of having entered the city or planning area. |
| Guidelines | General statements of policy direction around which specific details are established. These are qualitative statements. |
| Hardscape | Typically involves paved areas such as roads, sidewalks, driveways, fountains, shelters and medians where the upper-soil-profile is no longer exposed to the actual surface of the Earth. |
| Heat Sinks | An environment or object that absorbs and dissipates heat using thermal contact (either direct or radiant). |
| Human Scale | Generally refers to the use of human proportioned architectural features and site design elements clearly oriented to human activity. |
| HVAC | Heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment. |
| Industrial District | An area planned and developed for industrial uses. |
| Infill | Building and land development that utilizes land within the environment that is unused or under-used and surrounded by existing development. |
| Masonry | Wall construction of materials such as stone, brick, adobe and concrete. |
| Massing | The distribution of building volumes in regard to the building’s relative location on the site and the height, width, depth of the elements of a building relative to each other. |
| Multifamily | Residential development projects with three (3) or more units, including attached and detached units and densities greater than eight (8) dwelling units per acre. |
| Open Space | The total land area not individually owned or dedicated for public use, which is designed and intended for the common use and enjoyment of the residents or for conservation of natural resources. |
| Open Space, Common | Common open space includes all landscaped areas, yards, patios, swimming pools, putting greens, and other recreational-leisure facilities; areas of scenic or natural beauty and habitat areas; hiking, riding, or offstreet bicycle trails; and landscaped areas adjacent to roads that are in excess of minimum required rights-of-way. |
| Open Space, Private | A usable open space adjoining and directly accessible to a dwelling unit, reserved for the exclusive use of residents of the dwelling unit and their guests. |
| Orientation | The direction that various sides of a building face. |
| Outdoor Amenities, Common | Outdoor open spaces and recreation facilities such as pools, patios, tennis courts, tot-lot and play equipment, hot-tubs and saunas, picnic and barbeque areas, tables, benches and outdoor seating for the use of residents within the residential project. |
| Palette | In building architecture, the set of colors to be used on a particular building or group of buildings. In landscape architecture, the set of planting materials to be used in the landscape design. |
| Parapet | The portion of a wall that rises above the edge of the roof. |
| Paseo | A narrow pedestrian walkway or passageway through a site. |
| Pedestrian Scale | Describes an area designed to allow pedestrians to comfortably walk from one location to another and interact with the built environment; an effort to create an appropriate relationship between human beings and the size and function of surrounding buildings; an emphasis on building features and characteristics which can be observed in close proximity, at the speed a pedestrian would travel. |
| Placemaking | Planning places where deliberate placement of land uses, location and type of circulation, and shape and character of spaces result in social and economic focus for communities. |
| Public Realm | The public realm is the street space from the back of the sidewalk and includes public paths, trails, and open spaces. |
| Private Realm | The private realm is typically defined as all private interior and exterior spaces from the building façade to the private yard spaces. The area between the back of the sidewalk to the building facades is a “semi-public” or “semi-private” zone that is visible by the public and controlled by the private owner. Semi-private spaces or semi-public spaces may include front yards, side yards, landscaped setbacks and buffers, and common open spaces between buildings. |
| Proportion | The relationship between elements taken as a whole or in comparison to each other. Often expressed as a ratio. |
| Urban Design Plan | A plan for a neighborhood, district or corridor that emphasizes the design quality of public places. |
| Scale | Describes a relative magnitude and the relationship of the proportions among objects. |
| Shiplap | Wood siding profile that overlaps boards to prevent water penetration. |
| Single-family Dwelling | A detached building designed exclusively for occupancy by one (1) family. |
| Site Plan | A plan showing the form, location and orientation of a building or group of buildings on a site, usually including the dimensions, contours, paving, landscaping, and other significant features of the site. May also be referred to as a plot plan. |
| Special Planning Area (SPA) | Districts or zones that have unique development and/or design standards that supercede the County’s zoning ordinance. |
| Standards | They set the minimum and maximum requirements based on quantifiable criteria. Usually associated with and related to zoning. |
| Streetscape | A physical character of an area that may either abut or be contained within a public or private street right-of-way or access way that may contain sidewalks, street furniture, landscaping or trees, and similar features. |
| Sustainability | Sustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society. It entails preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and planning and acting to maintain these ideals in a very long term. |
| Theme District | Design features such as spatial characteristics, signage, landscape or architecture that contribute to the image and identity of a district. |
| Townhouse | A single dwelling unit in a townhouse group, located or capable of being located on a separate lot, and being separated from the adjoining dwelling unit by an approved wall extending from the foundation through the roof and structurally independent of the corresponding wall of the adjoining unit. |
