Provo, UT Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

285) requirements to every building in the General Downtown (DT1), Downtown Core (DT2), Downtown Gateway (GW), West Gateway (WG), and Interim Transit Oriented Development (ITOD) zones, and the ordinance states it supersedes any conflicting, less restrictive requirement elsewhere in the Provo City Code. Ground floors are the most enforced piece: commercial frontage on a primary street needs at least 40% transparent glass, 30% on a secondary street, while ground-floor residential frontage needs 20% transparent glass on any street. Every 50 feet of primary-street building frontage (100 feet on secondary streets, or GW/WG's 100-foot standard) must include a pedestrian entrance, and GW/WG parcels fronting Center Street must have an entrance facing Center Street.

Multi-family and mixed-use facades must be horizontally and vertically articulated with a visible break between ground and upper floors, avoid extensive blank walls, and give the building a distinct base, middle and top treatment. Exterior finish cannot be vinyl or metal siding (including sheet or corrugated metal), plywood, particle board, unfinished wood products, or manufactured stone, and stucco/EIFS/synthetic stucco finishes are capped at 20% of each facade face. Pitched roofs facing a public street must slope no less than 5:12 (2:12 for porches and attached sheds), though flat roofs remain allowed.

At least half of all residential units need a balcony of 50 square feet or more, and balconies projecting into the right-of-way are capped at 5 feet with 10 feet of sidewalk clearance. Buildings within 100 feet of a railroad right-of-way must include sound and vibration attenuating design, backed by documentation from an acoustical engineer or the materials manufacturer. Mechanical equipment needs an opaque, architecturally compatible screen sized only as large as necessary. The Planning Commission may waive individual requirements only by approving an alternative design arrangement that is equivalent to or more restrictive than the code standard.