Palisades Neighborhood Association

Synopsis of Desired Neighborhood Character Survey

Published July 13, 2022

This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant

July 8, 2022

Synopsis of Survey Results

The Desired Neighborhood Character Survey the “survey” was made available through various media to all Palisades Neighborhood residents and was conducted from May 16, 2022 through June 8, 2022.  274 PNA residents replied – a strong return rate.  

General Observations from the responses:

  1. A near uniform support for the preservation and enhancement of several characteristics of the Palisades Neighborhood, detailed below. (question 1 of 7, part a, 88% of respondents highly or moderately support preserving existing neighborhood character)
  2. A high percentage (>98%) of respondents own their home vs rent
  3. Fairly diverse distribution of length of time living in Palisades
  4. Fairly diverse distribution of home’s age, with most (>74%) of homes built before 1980
  5. 2/3 of respondents plan to age in place or live in their homes for 10 or more years
  6. The survey was a successful tool to:
    1. Elicit opinions regarding valued neighborhood characteristics
    2. Demonstrate strong support for creating the Overlay District to protect these characteristics
    3. Heighten residents’ awareness of the Palisades Neighborhood Association
    4. Increase the number of newsletter subscribers

Neighborhood Characteristics:

1 of 7 Characteristics with high importance include:

  • Private, secluded, quiet backyards (highly or moderately valued by 96% of respondents)
  • Encouraging retaining mature, healthy, native trees (92%)
  • Front yards mostly landscaped (not paved) (89%)
  • Preserve existing neighborhood character (88%)
  • Architectural variety, as opposed to same style developer homes repeated several times on the same street, or nearby streets. (86%)
  • New/remodeled homes in scale similar to existing (80%)
  • Smaller, mid-century, ranch, split level, & traditional 2-story (65%)

2 of 7 Suggested Improvements (respondents could write in suggestions):

  • Several respondents reiterated the desire to protect mature trees, limit the number of flags in flag lots, and have fewer “big box” homes
  • Some comments were outside the scope of an overlay (traffic, need for sidewalks, streetlights, walking paths, elimination of gas-powered yard equipment, etc.)  These comments will be forwarded to the appropriate city staff.
  • Other comments regarded the desire to discourage or prohibit duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes and cottage clusters (“Middle Housing”).  State law now allows these building types on lots currently zoned for single family dwellings, and the city’s planning staff are currently in the process of revising the city’s development code to reflect this law.  As such, the proposed overlay won’t be able to prohibit or discourage Middle Housing.

3 of 7 Regarding importance of natural systems/landscaping & buffering elements, the following were strongly supported:

  • Management of surface water run-off (extremely, very, or moderately important to 95% of respondents)
  • Preservation of healthy native trees (95%)
  • Landscape screening to preserve privacy including retention of more healthy native trees (95%)
  • Size, number, and species of replacement trees (92%)

4 of 7 Regarding elements of new/remodeled homes, the following were strongly supported:

  • Some increase of building setbacks compared with the current zoning ordinance (93%)
  • Some decrease in building height (93%)
  • Some reduction of total square footage of home to property size (Floor Area Ratio, “FAR”) compared with the current zoning ordinance (90%)
  • Amount of impervious surfaces (86%)
  • Limitation on number of flags on a lot split to 2 compared with the current zoning ordinance (83%)
  • Allow front facing garages to minimize impervious surfaces (82%)

5 of 7 Regarding impermeable surfaces (driveway and paving), the following were strongly supported:

  • Concerns about surface drainage due to increased impermeable surfaces (92%)
  • Amount of paving being visually consistent with neighborhood (90%)
  • Local heat gain due to increased impervious surfaces (83%)

6 of 7 Regarding limiting number of flag lots on a lot split, 75% support a limit of 2 total lots regardless of lot size

7 of 7 Regarding front yard setbacks, 50% of respondents supported new setbacks greater than the code required 25’ (existing non-conforming setbacks are “grandfathered” in), while approximately 30% support the current code front setback.  In total – 80% of respondents supported deeper front yard setbacks.

Submitted by Chris Durkee, PNA Land Use Committee Coordinator and Frederique Lavios, PNA Overlay Committee Coordinator

See also: PNA Neighborhood Character Survey Summary Visual Summary

WANT TO GET INVOLVED?

VOLUNTEER OR DONATE

Donate
Volunteer
PNA Community
Facebook Youtube

NEWS & RESOURCES

All News

Board Meeting Registration & Agenda

Area Map

Traffic & Pathways

Report Traffic & Safety Concerns

Land Use

Public Parks & Trails

Emergency Preparation

Trees

Sustainability

Schools

By-Laws

Meeting Minutes

Pet of the Month

Volunteer Opportunities

COMMUNITY

Vote
Donate
Contact
Privacy Policy

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP) Project Coordinator

Primary Role:

  • Handles NEP grant applications, grant approvals, reviews receipts for reimbursement and is the single point of contact between the entire Palisades Neighborhood Association (PNA) and the City.
  • To be successfull in this role you should be organized, communicative.
  • Time commitment: From 8-12 hrs. throughout the year

Process:

  • Accepting NEP proposals: Anyone living in the Palisades Neighborhood Association can submit proposal(s) to the NEP Coordinator along with estimated costs throughout the year. They should follow the application guidelines and answer the questions related to their proposal.
  • PNA Board will Vote on Which Items To Include in our NEP Proposal: During the month of March PNA board meeting the NEP Coordinator asks the board to vote on the proposed item(s). NEP Coordinator encourages person(s) proposing the item(s) to attend the meeting to answer questions that might come up. The PNA board then votes on which items should be included in the NEP grant proposal.
  • Developing and Submitting the NEP Grant Proposalt: During the NEP grant proposal period (usually the month of May) the NEP Project Coordinator:
    • Fills out the NEP grant proposal application based on items approved by the PNA Board;
    • Gets sign offs from the PNA Chair
    • Submits the proposal form to the city in early May for the initial review process
    • Provides additional information requested by the city
    • Revises and submits the final application to the City by the deadline (typically May 31).

What Happens Next:

  • Iris McCaleb from the City forwards the NEP grant proposals to the grant review committee and then to the City Council who review it and awards certain grants.The NEP Coordinator will receive a letter of award from the City and will share it with the PNA Leadership Team.
  • As items are purchased from the approved grant list, the project close-out form is filled out by the person requesting reimbursement. They will attach digital copies of receipts and photos and then submit all to both the NEP Project Coordinator and the PNA Chair. The NEP Project Coordinator submits the reimbursement request to Iris at the City for reimbursement.
  • Reimbursement checks are then sent directly to the person who purchased the item(s).