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Castle Rock Collaboration Planning Documents RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT SETBACKS FROM THE LA SAL LOOP ROAD, CASTLE VALLEY, UTAH September 12, 2000 David Bell, Assoc. A site visit and visual inspection made in August of 2000 yielded the following recommendations regarding residential development setbacks from the LaSal Loop Highway in Castle Valley, Utah. It is assumed that setbacks from this roadway should soften or hide the impact of new development along the roadway in order to preserve the landscape character as much as possible. The scenery in this valley is world class and the topography and vegetation allow nearly uninterrupted views to mountains, hills and rock cliffs from along this road. If housing is allowed to be located too close to the roadway the visual quality of the valley will be compromised. Hiding housing with just setbacks is not possible, however, the "in-your-face" impacts can be softened with distance and with the grade (elevation) of the house in relation to the viewer on the roadway. In walking the roadway corridor it was found that subtle ridges occur (as shown on the accompanying map and the diagrammatic cross section below) at various distances from the roadway. These ridges provide the opportunity for establishing set back limits because development located beyond these ridges will be visually lower in elevation when viewing from the roadway. From the site and map investigations two setback options were developed. Option 'A' locates the building development setback line along a series of ridges that are closest to the highway and approximately 600 to 1000 feet away. Most buildings would be visible, but would be far enough away and at a lower elevation than the ridges that the impact would be softened. The option 'B' line is more than one ridge line back (except for the area at the upper end of the roadway) and ranges from about 600 feet to nearly 1/2 mile. Some of the buildings with this setback could be totally hidden and the rest partially hidden with distance and by being below the ridge lines. In addition to the suggested setbacks, the visual impacts can be further softened by utilizing low profile buildings and by choosing color schemes that blend with the surrounding landscape. Careful site planning is critical. The tendency will be to keep the houses high in order to maximize views. However, long range views can still be accomplished by siting houses lower, and below the ridge lines, and intimate views into drainage corridors are a great opportunity. Four critical rules for reducing the visual impact in this landscape are: utilize as large a setback as possible keep development below the ridgelines use low profile architecture choose colors that blend with the landscape The proposed setback lines should be refined when more refined contours are available.