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NORTH HARBOR BOULEVARD SPECIFIC PLAN 165 All drainage ultimately discharges into the Orange County Flood Control Channel. (See Figure 2.5) The entire planning area is subject to flooding during a 100-year storm, and this condition will continue until major flood control impi'ovements along the upstream portions of the Santa Aha River are constructed, in the meantime, all new buildings are required to be at least three feet above the level of the 100-year flood plain in the AOE zone south of Hazard; and at the lowest flood level, between the 79' and 84' contour north of Hazard to Westminster. A 2.5 VIEWS AND VISUAL QUALITY A 2.5,1 Overall Character Because the study area is concentrated along Harbor Boulevard, a north/south arterial, and along intersect- ing east/west roadways, particularly First and Fifth Streets, its visual character is predominantly linear with major views being along the street corridors. Since the area has little relief with the flat topography, views are somewhat restricted and defined by contiguous land use and buildings. The exception to this condition is the Santa Aha River, which defines the eastern bound- ary of the study area. Since the retail and commercial components of the planning area are quite varied in use, architectural style, overall site design, and amenities, the general appearance of the area seems disorganized with no spe- cific area of visual focus. The landscaping palette is sparse, and therefore provides little in the way of help- ing to give any sense of visual linkage along the corri- dor. While Willowick Golf Course, Campesino Park, and Santa Anita Park provide significant open green space, and very positive visual quality, the overall impact on the area is not a major one because of their isolated location with respect to the total study area. A 2.5.2 Visual Issues The visual issues that need to be addressed by the spe- cific plan fall into three main categories: · lack of spatial definition; · inconsistency in appearance and lack of any unifying element(s) throughout the corridor · mixed and intrusive visual elements 1.5patial Definition - This issue includes the following major elements: - Mixed a~hitectural styles with no sense of coordination - Wide or inconsistent setbacks giving the area a jar, ged sense - Open paved f~ontages with no landscaped buffer between the street and parking areas. - Insufficient landscaping - Poor boundary definition/open bound- aries between properties gives a lack of definition for the whole area. - Scattered land.uses - Vacant lots - Underdeveloped lots with temporary buildings - High proportion of unrelieved or unlandscaped concrete paving finishes 2. Appearance - Lack of consistently good architectural standards - Poor quality of buildings and other structures - Temporary structures - Lack of maintenance and/or housekeeping - Unmaintained vacant lots - Insufficient and disorganized landscaping - Deteriorating conc~te finishes - Narrow/or unpaved sidewalks 3. Visual Elements Billboards Signs Flags Overhead utilities and pole Heavy traffic volumes Hard/paved environment These items occur at least to some degree throughout the planning area, and it is the combination of these elements that leads to the poor overall visual character. Some of these elements, for example single story build- ings, insufficient landscaping, wide paved expanses, scattemt land uses and vacant lots, may constitute one or more visual problems (i.e., may be both intrusive visual elements and lead to lack of spatial definition).