Residential Design Guidelines

The City of Albany has adopted Design Guidelines to assist applicants in meeting the Design Review criteria of the Zoning Ordinance. The guidelines provide a framework within which Design Review applications for residential projects will be reviewed. The guidelines provide applicants with a reasonable understanding of what the community considers to be appropriate design. They also provide Planning Department staff and Planning Commissioners with a basis for consistent decision making. Applicants may propose alternative design schemes, but compliance with the guidelines improves the likelihood of a favorable outcome in the Design Review process.

The guidelines are intended to promote quality design that considers and resolves issues of massing, materials, proportion and details of the project site and reflects the patterns of site development in the surrounding neighborhood. The guidelines are not intended to restrict architectural creativity or to stifle creative design solutions.