The Minimum Property Standards for Multifamily Housing dated November 1963 contain site planning standards based on (1) a new comprehensive concept of landuse intensity and (2) a simple measurement scale called the land-use intensity scale, or LUI scale. The new standards prescribe essential physical characteristics of a project, yet allow great flexibility in project design. The LUI concept and measurement methods replace density, coverage and other less accurate and more restrictive measurement methods of the old MPS. Land-use intensity (LUI) expresses numerically the over-all relationship of the land area, building mass and open space in a developed property. It establishes, among other things, the maximum floor area and the minimum open space. It establishes standards for the distribution of the open space among livability space, recreation space and car storage space. As the preliminary site plan is based on these relationships, the LUI number and the related standards are given to the sponsor at the pre-application stage of a multifamily housing proposal and the feasibility stage of a planned-unit development. Because of their scope, precision and reliability, the LUI measurement scale and the related intensity ratios serve many useful purposes, including the following: 1. The FHA measures the LUI of successful existing projects to establish benchmark projects for comparative purposes. 2. The FHA selects an LUI number for a proposed site based upon planning analysis and sound real estate judgment regarding the site, its community and the market. The LUI number establishes the intensity standards for the site for FHA purposes. The FHA tells the sponsor the site's LUI number and standards, preferably before he starts project design. 3. The FHA may test the physical and financial workability of an LUI number or a contemplated building type by projecting the LUI number arithmetically into maximum floor area on a proposed site and minimum amounts of open space, car space, etc. 4. The sponsor and his planner, by the same process, may develop and test various building programs for a site before starting to design the project. The pretested program guides the project planner--saves design time. 5. The sponsor's planners may measure the LUI of a proposed plan to determine compliance with the LUI number and standards assigned by the FHA, and may present the data to FHA to expedite plan review. 6. The FHA checks intensity compliance with the MPS intensity standards by review of the sponsor's data for his proposed plan, or by measuring the LUI of the proposed plan. |