Letter to the editor from Fred Coles
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Editor:
As the person who ran point on the attempt to add design review to Evanston’s toolbox for downtown economic development, I need to clarify a few thing that appeared in an article in Tuesday’s Uinta County Herald, “Officials address downtown vacancy.”
In 2010 the Urban Renewal Agency Board and staff, after considerable effort, presented to the Evanston City Council an ordinance for “Design review of new buildings, signs, and exterior alterations of existing buildings in the Main Street Program District.” The ordinance stated that the business or property owner would present the proposed project to a Design Review Committee.
The committee, using the approved design guidelines, would then make their recommendations. Triggered by the application for a building permit, the ordinance specified that meeting with the Design Review Committee was mandatory, but there was no language in the ordinance requiring the applicant to follow the recommendations.
The ordinance used guidelines, not required standards, and compliance with any recommendations of the committee would have been completely voluntary.
Fred Coles
Evanston
