Detroit’s Planning and Development Department (PDD) made the transition to a new design review process—called the Concept Plan Review (CPR)—to ensure strong architectural standards throughout the city, and ultimately chart a better defined course for reviews, funding and approvals for any projects involving public funding or utilizing city-owned land, including new construction and historic renovations.
The KDG team has the skill and reputation for a strong grasp on all the nuances for historic and code compliance within the city. As such, we’ve put together a high-level overview detailing everything you need to know about this pre-development design review service.
What is Concept Plan Review?
Per Zoning Ordinance Section 50-3-201, “Concept Plan Review is an initial review of certain proposed development projects by PDD staff that may be required of projects which involve acquisition of city-owned land and/or public funds.”
The goal is to confirm accordance with PDD’s 8 Guiding Principles, which include:
- Street Frontage
- Appropriate Density
- Parking and Access
- Historic Preservation
- Pedestrian Experience
- Activate the Public Realm
- Building Form and Material
- Maintain/Integrate the Street Grid
Preliminary Plan Review
Kicking off this multi-step process requires scheduling a preliminary plan review (PPR)—a high-level, broad-based review bringing together applicable city agencies required to review the project and provide feedback and initial thoughts on the strength of your project and any potential hiccups that may occur throughout the process.
This is a high-level meeting; all that’s needed during the PPR is a rough rendering and general outline of the project. Specifics such as materiality of the building, landscape details, and stormwater mitigation design are not required at this time. A critical part of feedback gleaned from the PPR is whether or not the project fits within Concept Plan Review overlays, such as Traditional Main Street, Historic District, Downtown District, Public Funds Being Used, and more.
If public funds are being used for the project, the CPR process begins.
Concept Plan Review
The Concept Plan Review is the meat of a project’s design review process. Between the PPR and CPR, the architectural team continues to develop the project, schedule meetings with the planning department and hash out specifics.
When it comes time for the CPR, the architect, developer and city talk through the project at a schematic level, ensure it incorporates best practice urban design, review for historic preservation considerations (even if the building is not in a historic district) and take into account form, placement and materiality of the proposed work. The CPR also looks at landscape design, as well as design innovation. This typically takes 1-3 meetings, starting at a high level and becoming more refined each step of the way.
Once the project meets all required standards and incorporates feedback from the PPR, the PDD will grant a letter of support and allow the project to move into full Site Plan Review—which is necessary to obtain site-plan approval and sought-after public funding, such as Brownfield Tax Credits.
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The Concept Plan Review seems straightforward, but knowing how to navigate the process and present projects in the right way often requires creativity, ingenuity and exactitude.
Our team at Kraemer Design Group possesses the technical expertise, battle-tested experience, long-standing relationships and unique creativity to successfully and expediently complete a Detroit Concept Plan Review.
Where other architecture firms may source this task to a third party, our team provides immense value in-house—beginning the CPR process early in a project’s life cycle to ensure progress remains dutifully on schedule and every aspect is considered in advance, anticipating areas where questions may arise.
To learn more about this process in detail and how we can support your projects as your architectural, design and historic consultant team, contact us now.