The City of Lake Helen is committed to excellence in architecture, planning and landscape architecture. The purpose of the guidelines set forth is to contribute to the development of a well-planned urban environment by fostering the creation of visually compatible and harmonious development within the City’s Gateway Corridors the benefits of which will be spread over the City as a whole and be shared by existing and future residents of the City.

While there are nine (9) architectural styles listed as acceptable in the City Code for the Gateway Corridor standards, the City encourages creative design within these styles, with the understanding that architects and landscape architects are expected to incorporate into their designs the following best practices:

1. Historic Character. Promote, protect and maintain the City’s historic character and small-town atmosphere;
2. Identity. Create & maintain a strong community image, identity, and sense of place;
3. Visual Ambiance. Create & maintain a positive visual ambiance for the community;
4. Scenic Gateways. Provide for well-landscaped, scenic gateways to the City;
5. Value. Enhance and sustain property values;
6. Compatibility. Promote a high degree of compatibility between surrounding structures and land uses;
7. Quality. Establish and promote a standard for quality design and enduring quality development;
8. Safety. Provide for traffic circulation patterns that enhance public safety, roadway capacity, vehicular and non-vehicular movement functions; and
9. Civic Pride. Foster civic pride and community spirit by maximizing the positive impact of quality development.

Other historical styles may be permitted upon application to the City Commission – where the applicant demonstrates, and the City determines, that the utilization of such style contributes positively to the historic character of the City.

Architects, planners, landscape architects and developers are encouraged to display their design creativity within the Architectural Design Standards & Guidelines while remaining sensitive to the desires of the community as embodied in the City’s Comprehensive Plan, City Codes, and other applicable regulations.

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