SERA was retained by the City of West Sacramento to prepare a comprehensive set of design standards and guidelines for the 188-acre riverfront Bridge District in West Sacramento, California. The design standards are intended to translate the goals and principles of the Bridge District Specific Area Plan into a detailed document that will guide the physical development of the Bridge District into a new, mixed-use neighborhood and center of activity on the Sacramento River.
The highly-illustrative design standards and guidelines address the design of public and private streets within the District. They also provide architectural design and development standards for individual buildings in order to ensure that new development helps to create a vibrant public realm. SERA created a hierarchy of streets within the district, which serves as the organizing principle for the District’s design standards. The public realm design standards put forth in the plan include streetscape cross sections, vegetation and plantings, open space, street furniture, pedestrian amenities, bicycle facilities, and roadway and sidewalk materials. Architectural and building performance standards addressed include building siting and relationship to streets, ground floor treatments, building service functions, and sustainable building practices.
Additionally, SERA assisted the City of West Sacramento to determine ways in which the Bridge District can be built out in order to achieve USGBC certification under the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) program.
