Morrisville Land Use Plan 2009

5.3 Future Land Use Categories, cont’d 13. TOWN CENTER PLANNING AREA

The Morrisville Town Center Plan was adopted in 2007 and is currently being imple- mented through a variety of projects. Refer to the Town Center Plan for more detailed policies and standards for development in this district. A. Function i. Create a vibrant Town Center at Morrisville’s historic crossroads to help ensure that resi- dents continue to enjoy the best qualities of small town living as the community grows. B. Preferred Uses i. Within the Town Center Planning Area, land uses could include residential, civic/cultural uses, professional offices, small-scale commercial, institutional, educational, small-scale entertainment, and park uses. C. General Policies + Development Character (Also see Town Center Plan) i. Development in the Main Street area should generally have a small town character, such as that found around the historic Town crossroads, with a fine-grained land use pattern at a human scale. ii. Development should combine uses vertically, as well as horizontally (i.e. mixing uses among buildings and within individual buildings), to achieve convenience, variety and walkability in the district. iii. Design elements should be integrated with sidewalks, street trees, benches, and en- trances to buildings at the edges of street rights-of-way. Bicycle facilities, on-street park- ing, and usable public spaces should be provided. iv. Vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian links should extend into the surrounding develop- ment. v. Land use or intensity/density transitions should be provided between non-residential uses and existing residential areas. vi. It is important to maintain and improve the aesthetics of the Town Center for continued economic revival, and to protect historic buildings from demolition. Renovation in a historically appropriate manner should be encouraged. vii. In general, the scale of buildings should be two to three stories to ensure compatibility with the historic character of the area. viii.Consideration should be given to lowering the parking requirements in this district to allow the development of a compact traditional pattern of buildings, rather than wide expanses of surface parking. ix. Alleys, thoroughfares, and service ways should be utilized where possible to ensure trash pickup and deliveries for commercial establishments do not take place along public right of ways.

Morrisville’s Town Center contains a number of already appropriate land uses, such as institutional and park uses. Additional small scale commercial and service uses, and multi-modal transportation connections would further support the center’s development as a vibrant, historic crossroads.

encouraged discouraged

Development in the Main Street area should generally have a small town character, such as that found around the historic Town cross- roads, with a fine-grained land use pattern at a human scale.

It is important to maintain and improve the aesthetics of the Town Center for continued economic revival, and to protect historic build- ings from demolition. Renovation in a histori- cally appropriate manner should be encour- aged.

35

5 Recommendations