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Design rules top agenda

Officials want a city identity.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published October 22, 2006

Council members will take the first step Monday toward creating architectural design standards meant to create a city identity.

The council will meet Monday with a design team from the Institute of Government at the University of South Florida. The goal is to reach an agreement about what both sides should reasonably expect throughout the process, City Manager Frank Edmunds said.

Edmunds hopes the team will clearly describe to the council what it would take to implement any standards members decide to adopt. The difficulty, he said, is not in creating the standards but in deciding when they apply. Clearly, in the case of businesses, he said, the standards would apply for new construction. But for less - a renovation rather than a redo - the council will have to decide what standards will kick in and when.

Some business owners have already called with concerns about the impacts of any standards, he said.

"It's so early in the project that it's difficult to respond other than to encourage their active participation in the project," Edmunds said, adding that he has urged them to share their concerns with the design team during the next few months.

At this point, Edmunds said, it does not appear that the standards will be "themed," meaning businesses will not have to create a "Key West" or other look to meet the rules.

"I'm sensing there will be specifications on window replacements, door replacements, facade standards, regardless of architectural design," he said.

[Last modified October 21, 2006, 17:56:37]