POULSBO — Larger minimum lots, smaller maximum lots and wedding-cake-shaped homes rather than “boxes” are just some of the design elements that might save the character of Old Town, reported Mark Hinshaw this week.

Hinshaw, of Seattle’s LMN architects, has been conducting Poulsbo’s Old Town Study for nearly one year now. The $20,000 project comprises the area east of downtown south of Iverson Road to the southern city limits and west of State Route 305 to Fjord Drive — a total of about 140 acres.

About 50 Old Town residents attended a neighborhood meeting Thursday night to hear Hinshaw’s preliminary recommendations for a different set of guidelines for Old Town. Hinshaw told the audience that he wanted their input on his ideas before making a final report to council because an earlier meeting with neighbors had been a large help in his draft.

“We got a lot out of that just listening to commentS and reading the surveys,” Hinshaw said.

Hinshaw’s recommendations were for Poulsbo to adopt an “Old Poulsbo” overlay district for the northern three-quarters of the Old Town Study area, from Iverson Street to Matson Street. Hinshaw said he recommended only the north portion because he and his staff noticed that the elements residents seemed to favor and to want to preserve were predominant in that area.

That proposed overlay would include a different set of development guidelines for the area. Hinshaw recommended those standards include:

•Accessory dwelling units allowed on lots a minimum of 7,500 square feet (currently, they’re allowed on 5,000-square-foot lots)

•Residential infill allowed on lots no smaller than 5,000 square feet

•Height not to exceed 30 feet as measured to the top of the ridgeline or peak of sloped roof

•Total floor area ratio not to exceed 30 percent of lot size (Hinshaw said the majority of homes in the area are built to this standard now)

•Minimum and maximum roof slope

•Maximum lot size of 10,000-square feet

•Area of a floor not to exceed 75 percent of the area of the floor below it (Not including underground basements)

Beyond those, Hinshaw also suggested that the overlay include a sort of design guideline that would include unique features common to the homes in the area. He said Poulsbo might do well to give individuals a list of features from which they are urged to choose two or three things to incorporate into new homes. These included roof features such as dormers and exposed beams, usable front porches, detached garages, gardens facing the street and architectural details like brackets, corner boards, window trims and picket fencing.

“We think this should be a more flexible, not quantitative menu of items where people can pick what makes sense to them,” Hinshaw said.

After Hinshaw presented his recommendations, those in attendance got to weigh in. In general, community members felt Hinshaw’s standards were fair.

“I don’t think they’re too restrictive,” commented Muriel Williams, who has been one of the more vocal proponents for an Old Town Study. “I think they’re flexible. I don’t think anybody is saying ‘do this’ or ‘do that.’”

But Haugen Street resident David Blaskowski was among the handful of attendees who suggested the standards be a little more strict. Blaskowski said he would like to see Hinshaw add clarification to where maximum height would be measured from (Planning Director Barry Berezowsky said the standard is average original grade) and wanted to see a standard for setbacks that would help protect views.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Blaskowski said of Hinshaw’s recommendations. “If these things were implemented and enforced, I think it would be an enhancement to the code.”

One of the major steps that would be part of drafting such a set of development standards will be to make sure they’re legally defensible, Hinshaw cautioned the group. He said he was more than willing to write down any suggestions for additions, but he would need to check if law would allow them and if they consider the rights of property owners.

“There are some things you can do and there are some things you can’t do,” Hinshaw commented.

In general, the group seemed to side with that approach. While one or two people made suggestions over and above Hinshaw’s recommendations, most said were concerned that any overlay be enforceable, even-handed and take individual rights and tastes into account. The group was especially split between whether or not they liked the idea of the list of design elements that residents would be urged to use.

“I really generally like all of the guidelines they gave us but I am concerned about the restrictiveness,” commented Old Town neighbor Theanne Dahl. “We don’t want to get to the point of pushing the homogeny of the area too much. I like the diversity of style.”

Hinshaw and LMN will next take the comments from the meeting and draft his final report, which will be presented to council. Hinshaw said he expects the report to be done in about three or four weeks. It will then be up to council whether or not to proceed with making changes to Old Poulsbo development regulations.