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Project Log Detached Buildings Roofing Setbacks Walls & Fences Variances Solar Collectors Landscaping Heights Design Guidelines ACC Forms

ACC DESIGN GUIDELINE FOR LIMITING BUILDING HEIGHT

Revised 11/18/2004

Purpose: This guideline is established to ensure that buildings blend with their surroundings, including both the natural landscape and adjacent structures, and do not unduly interfere with the view from nearby residences. The guidelines codify limitations on height and how it is measured.

1. HEIGHT:

    a. No building shall exceed twenty-six feet in height.

    b. Specific unit covenants which restrict height to a lesser height shall be enforced.

2. MEASUREMENT OF HEIGHT – LEVEL SITE:

    a. Building height shall be measured from the lowest point of the natural contours of the land     lying anywhere within the footprint of the building.

    b. Pre-construction topological surveys, if available, shall be used to determine the low point whenever cutting or filling of the building site has occurred as the result of previous grading activities.

    c. The high point of the building shall be the highest part of the structure, except for chimneys and other permitted roof-mounted devises. Where the highest roof is flat, the high point shall be the highest parapet. Where the highest roof is pitched, the high point shall be the highest ridgeline of the roof.

3. MEASUREMENT OF HEIGHT – STEEP GRADES:

    a. Where the building-site is on a steep slope, buildings that step up and down the natural grade and rise minimally above it are preferred. The ACC may apply the measurement standards of this paragraph to fit that condition.

    b. For such designs, it is strongly recommended that a preliminary design application be submitted to and approved by the ACC, prior to the start of detail design. This can reduce the potential for disapproval of the final application and the need for costly redesigns.

    c. Whenever the ACC determines that site conditions and a proposed stepped design better meet the purpose of these guidelines, the ACC may choose to characterize the building as two or more distinct steps for purposes of measuring building height. Each step shall include all portions of the building whose ground floor is located at the same elevation. All of the provisions of paragraph 2 shall be applied to the measurement of the building height for each such step.

    d. No step in such a building shall contain more stories than are specified in the applicable unit covenant. Where unit covenants prohibit more than one story or limit the area of a second story, these restrictions shall be enforced for each step.

    e. The height of each step shall be measured from the lowest point of the natural contours of the land lying anywhere within the footprint of that particular step.

    f. The high point of the building shall be the highest part of the structure lying anywhere within the footprint of the step projected upward, except for chimneys and other permitted roof mounted devises. The point of measurement shall be the same as specified in paragraph 2.

    g. As a maximum, no step shall have a maximum height greater than as stated in paragraph 1.

         

4. DEFINITIONS:

    a. Footprint: The total heated and unheated area of the ground floor of a building, or portion of a building, not including roof overhangs or cantilevered spaces.

    b. Stepped design: A building design wherein two or more parts of the building are placed with the ground floor at different elevations.

    c. Story: A living space located within a building.

    d. Ground floor: The lowest story of a building or step portion of a building.

    e. Two Stories: The condition wherein two living spaces are located one above the other.