(Draft) Proposed Bay City Building Guidelines

Feedback desired.

(Updated, 1t March, 2009, 9:20 p.m. SLT)

One issue has come up in Bay City a couple of times, and sometimes in dramatic fashion. The issue of zoning and covenants is a contentious one, but without such, we continually run into issues. With this in mind I would propose an informal set of zoning guidelines, along the following lines (and thanks to the initial LDPW write ups about Bay City and the 01/19/03 Boardman Zoning Guidelines for inspiration). I have tried to err on the side of parcel owners' rights with the following.

I want to make it clear that these are *guidelines.* These are not intended as binding rules. Bay City is un-zoned mainland and does not have a covenant. These are intended as some ideas for helping work together as a group to create a better place in Bay City for us all.

PROPOSED BAY CITY BUILDING GUIDELINES:

1. While you are welcome to design in awhatever style you wish, it is recommended that you attempt to stick with an overall them based on "the American urban experience, between 1940 and 1965, perhaps best typified by Chicago circa 1950 and marked by a distinct deco influence." (Linden Lab wording) Please try to avoid overly archaic or futuristic builds.

2. Buildings must be attached to the ground, and not go over a maximum height of 150m. In the case of skyboxes, These should be placed at an altitude over 500m to allow for air traffic.

3. Be a good neighbor: please contain your build without your own property lines, and do not encroach on other resident or Linden owned properties without permission.

4. Please avoid noisy or flashing textures, particles, excessive and/or looping sounds, or any script that puts unnecessary strain on the region. Please also avoid abuse of regions by use of "camping 'bots" or a large number of "camping pads."

5. Please avoid deliberately unsightly builds or excessively large signage.

in #3, I think it's better for people to keep thier builds _within_ they're own property lines.

On point 2... if these are *guildelines* then I think the phrase "... must be..." was either a mistake or a freudian slip!

On point 3... as was raised at the last meeting, staying completely within your own property lines can make for a naff-looking neighbourhood. The Bay City sims have more than their fair share of odd-shaped parcels and diagonal property lines, and a lot of the communal land around the canals is badly terraformed. Unless you have a rectangular parcel aligned with the compass, then building over property lines may be a very sensible option to blend your build in with the surroundings in an aesthetic way.

On point 4... what's the definition of "noisy", "flashing", "excessive" and "large number"?? What I think is noisy and excessive may be very different to what someone else thinks! You shouldn't have ambiguous wording in these guidelines.

On point 5... same comment goes for the ambiguous phrases "unsightly" and "excessively large".

Finally, my comments on the whole Building Guidelines idea: As much as you state that these are not rules, there is a danger that a small minority of individuals will take it upon themselves to persuade others to adopt them. For this one reason alone I am against the idea of publishing anything. However if you are going to publish something or state an opinion on this forum or in group notices as a small collective of residents actively attempting to promote business in this area then I would suggest you drop all the points you listed other than point number 1 and simply state something along the lines of.....

"While you are welcome to design in whatever style you wish, at whatever height and altitude, the currently active members of the Bay City Alliance - a non-authoritarian and open group wishing to promote business in the Bay City area - would like to recommended that you attempt to stick with an overall ground-based them based on "the American urban experience, between 1940 and 1965, perhaps best typified by Chicago circa 1950 and marked by a distinct deco influence." as this was the theme upon which Linden Labs based their initial construction of the Bay City sims."