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SUBJECTS › PLANNING › Design Review
Updated 1/08

Design Review

Contents

Design Review Introduction

Design review is the local government practice of examining public and private projects for their aesthetic, architectural, or urban design quality and compatibility with nearby development. Design review focuses on the appearance of new construction, site planning, and such concerns as landscaping, signage, and other aesthetic issues. Design review typically involves reviewing development projects for their consistency with a communitys adopted standards or criteria addressing community character and aesthetic quality.

Design review is common for commercial and multifamily development, downtown development, development in historic districts, and for projects within certain transportation corridors. In many communities, design review is conducted by an appointed design review board of volunteers that include architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and other design professionals as well as general citizen representatives. Some communities have administrative design review that is handled by city staff, typically planning or urban design staff. This Web page includes information on design review programs in general, sample design guidelines, design review boards, design review application forms, and specific types of design review activities.

If you have information to share or are aware of other Web sites that we should link to, please contact Carol Tobin, Public Policy Consultant at ctobin@mrsc.org, or call (206) 625-1300.

Why design review?

There are many reasons why communities enact design review programs. In some older established communities, the interest is in ensuring the compatibility of new development with existing character. Design review can help to enhance desirable pedestrian characteristics and the aesthetic quality of the streetscape. Another reason for design review is to avoid monotony in new construction. Design review is sometimes used to create an identity or a special physical character in an area of new development.

Legality of Design Review

Until 1993, there were no Washington appellate cases ruling on the validity of design review ordinances. That year, the Washington State Court of Appeals decided in Anderson v. Issaquah, 70 Wn. App. 64, 82 (1993) that Issaquah's design review regulations were invalid due to vagueness. However, the issue of how far a city may go in regulating design is far from settled, and it is important for communities to develop meaningful design standards. In light of the Issaquah case, MRSC strongly advises cities, towns, and counties to review their proposed design review programs and criteria with their attorney's office.

    Selected Court Decisions related to Design Review

    Anderson v. Issaquah, 70 Wn. App. 64, 82 (1993) The court ruled that Issaquah's design review regulations were invalid due to vagueness. It found the guidelines deficient because they did not give meaningful guidance to the applicant or the design review board. The court affirmed the legitimacy of design review by stating that aesthetic standards are an appropriate component of land use governance.

    Swoboda v. Town of La Conner, 97 Wn. App. 613 (1999) In a challenge to the constitutionality of the town's historic preservation ordinance, the court determined that the ordinance contained ascertainable standards to protect against arbitrary and discretionary enforcement and defined prohibited or required conduct with sufficient definiteness, and therefore was not unconstitutional as applied. The town's preservation ordinance involves design review within the historic district.

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General Design Review Information

    Articles and General Info

    General Information on Washington Local Programs

    Local Design Review Boards

    Other Design-Related Links

    Selected MRSC Library Holdings: Design Review

    [Note: Clicking on this link will take you to a list of documents available on loan through the MRSC library. Once the list appears, you can sort it alphabetically by selecting Sort and then Title from the drop-down menu]

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    Design Elements of Comprehensive Plans

    A design element is an optional element of a comprehensive plan (WAC 365-195-345). Quite a few communities have included urban or community design elements in their comprehensive plans.

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