[Added by the 1998 Town Meeting]
A. Intent. It is the intent of this section to provide a district which primarily provides municipal services, community services, and services to senior citizens that shall serve as the Town's primary civic center. The goal is to preserve and enhance the character of Salem's civic center by achieving the following objectives in accordance with the Town Master Plan update adopted in 1992:
(1) To allow for government, institutional, and public uses in a designated district.
(2) To provide safeguards for the preservation, enhancement, and construction of appropriate buildings and landscape within the municipal district which represent or reflect elements of the Town's civic, aesthetic, cultural, social, economic, political, and architectural heritage.
(3) To enhance and preserve open space, featuring natural vegetation and a forest-like setting in the district, including the approaching access from Veterans Memorial Parkway.
(4) To provide an attractive environment suitable for higher education.
(5) To enhance and preserve critical community recreational and cultural resources located in the district.
(6) To provide a safe and attractive environment for senior citizens to live and congregate.
B. Applicability. The following regulations shall govern the erection and alteration of buildings and structures and the use of land in the Town Center District; except, however, that these regulations shall not apply to an existing building or structure, nor to the use of any building, structure, or land, if such building or structure was a lawful use under the governing provisions of prior zoning ordinances, nor to an alteration thereto for a use or for any purpose or in any manner which is not substantially different from that to which it was put before alteration. Single-family residential development is permitted under the provisions of §
490-301A. However, in the event of discontinuance of a nonconforming use for whatever reason for 12 consecutive months, then the following regulations shall govern the erection and alteration of buildings and structures and the use of land in the Town Center District.
C. Permitted uses. The following uses shall be permitted in the Town Center District:
(1) Municipal activities, including but not limited to government, police, fire department, library, court facilities, public recreation, and other public activities.
(2) Public facilities, including parking facilities.
(3) Temporary activities as authorized by municipal agencies having jurisdiction.
(4) Public parks and playgrounds.
(5) Secondary school and associated customary uses.
(6) Postsecondary school and associated customary uses.
(7) Adult care agency, nursing home, convalescent home, continuing care retirement center, or assisted living facilities.
(8) Child care agency, day nursery, or nursery school.
(9) Private, nonprofit community service centers available to the general public.
(10) Private, nonprofit social service centers, both residential and nonresidential, available to the general public.
(11) Hospitals and health care services.
(12) Business and professional offices.
(15) Use accessory to the primary permitted use.
D. Development standards. The visual character of the district is currently defined by government and community services buildings surrounded by generous open spaces and natural wildlife habitat. New buildings and additions to existing buildings should have generous setbacks as seen from the major streets and provide natural, open space buffers between uses in order to maintain the character of the district.
(1) (a) Open space shall consist of no less than 50% of the lot area.
(2) Design and architectural standards.
(a) Massing and style. Building massing and style must draw on the historical design elements that are contextually consistent with regional New England architecture. Historical and traditional design elements are encouraged. Neoclassical design vocabularies are preferred within the district. Fences and landscaping to screen service areas must be provided, consistent with the intent and use of the space.
(b) Roofs. Preference shall be given to pitched roofs, consistent with New England traditional or vernacular styles. Material must be consistent with the architecture of the building. Composition shingle material is acceptable, provided that it is of high quality and provides architectural definition to the tab shingle to emulate traditional wood shingle styles. Tile, slate, or metal roofing is permitted, provided that it is consistent with the architectural style of the building.
(c) Facade element. Design of the facade shall be highly detailed and articulated to be compatible with the scale and sensitivity to the institutional uses within the district. Facades should have a well-defined foundation, a modulated wall element, and pitched roof or articulated cornice which defines the character of the building.
(d) Entrances. Building entrances must comply with all current accessibility regulations; however, the use of ramps and lifts is discouraged. Buildings should be designed with entrances that are barrier free for the intended uses. Where grade separation of an entrance is required because of site topography, accommodation should be provided in the architectural detail of the entry to allow barrier-free use by building occupants and visitors.
(e) Door and window openings. Doors and windows should be entirely consistent with the architecture of the buildings in design and placement. The use of cornices, architectural moldings, side lights, transom lights, and raised panels in doors is encouraged. A wide range of material for doors and windows is acceptable, except that the use of commercial, anodized or painted aluminum or steel storefront assemblies is discouraged.
(f) Materials and design elements. Material chosen for exterior elements should be consistent with the intent and use of materials traditionally found in commercial and residential design in New England. Siding materials such as clapboard and shingle are preferred, and the use of new materials which reduce maintenance but emulate the look and feel of traditional materials is encouraged. The use of a variety of trim material to provide detail at the eaves, corners, gables, pediments, lintels, sills, quoins, and balustrades is encouraged. The use of bays, towers, cupolas, cross gables, and dormers to provide unique character to a building and provide articulation of the facade is encouraged.
(g) Paving and curbing. Granite curbing, gray in color, is required on all public roads. Rolled asphalt (Cape Cod berm) curbing is unacceptable on all public roads but is permissible on private roads, driveways, and parking lots. Curbing is to be sloped or cut to provide a barrier-free transition at road crossings and building entrances. Paving should be textured or of different materials at pedestrian crossings and walkways. The use of stone, brick or cultured stone pavers for entrance walkways is encouraged. The use of textured materials for walkway borders is encouraged.
(h) Signs. Signs of all types and description must conform to all criteria and requirements established in §
490-702D.
(3) Parking. In addition to the requirements as set forth in §
490-701, public parking for more than 10 cars must be allocated to the side and rear of all buildings in such a way as to be buffered from public view from the access street. The intent of this section is to maintain a high standard of land planning and landscape architecture within the district consistent with Salem's rural heritage. The criteria established in the Site Plan Review Regulations are to be applied in this district. In addition, the following special landscaping requirements apply:
(a) A twenty-five-foot landscaped buffer area shall be maintained along the parking area perimeter fronting the access street consisting of ground cover, shrubs, and shade or ornamental trees.
(b) Parking lots of five or more spaces shall be screened from the access street and adjoining lots by stone walls typical of the rural area farms and homes, continuous screening hedges, or earth berms a minimum of 42 inches high.
(c) At the time of planting, deciduous trees must be of a two-inch caliper or greater, and evergreen trees must be a minimum of six feet in height.
(d) There must be one shade or ornamental tree provided in the landscaped buffer for every 1,000 square feet of parking area.
(e) Contiguous parking areas with 11 or more parking stalls shall provide canopy shade trees of three-inch caliper or greater for every six parking stalls or fraction thereof selected from the species as set forth in the Site Plan Review Regulations. Alternately, one shade tree of four-inch caliper or greater may be planted for every 12 parking stalls or fraction thereof. Each tree shall be located in a planting area and/or tree well no less than nine square feet in area.
(f) If wheel stops or curbing is provided, continuous planting areas with low ground cover and tree wells with trees centered at the corner of parking stalls may be located within the three-foot overhang space of parking stalls.
(g) Hedges and other landscape elements, including planter boxes over six inches in height, are not permitted within the overhang space of the parking stalls.
(h) Trees shall be sited so as to be evenly distributed throughout the interior of any parking lot.
(4) Trash storage and service areas. All outdoor trash and service areas, except those for single-family dwelling use, shall be screened from public view and view from abutting lots on a minimum of three sides by a wall or hedge at least six feet in height. The wall must be painted, surfaced, or otherwise treated to blend with the development it serves.
(5) Transformer entrances. All utility substations, other than individual transformers, shall be enclosed by a solid wall or fence a minimum of five feet in height, except for necessary openings for access. Transformer vaults for underground utilities and similar uses shall be enclosed by a landscape hedge.
(6) Irrigation. All plant material and landscaping shall be provided with a permanent irrigation system.
(7) Waivers. The Planning Board may grant waivers to this Subsection
D (development standards), if the considered use is consistent with and compatible with the character of the district.
(8) The use of existing lots in the Town Center District for one-family and two-family dwellings shall be exempt from the provisions of this section but shall comply with the provisions of the Residential District.
[Added by the 1999 Town Meeting]
E. Restrictions.
(1) Residential facilities designed for exclusive occupancy by senior citizens, at a minimum, must meet federal regulations for such facilities.
F. Administration. The Planning Board shall administer this section.