City to Study Impact of Design Standards
Originally published in InFact Daily on May 2, 2005

The city may bring in some outside help to deal with proposed changes to commercial design standards, now that the Council has sent the bulk of the policy recommendations to the City Manager’s office to be converted into ordinance language. City Manager Toby Futrell says she will likely call in outside consultants in order to complete a Council-ordered study on the economic impact the standards will have on small businesses and other stakeholders. The city may bring in some outside help to deal with proposed changes to commercial design standards, now that the Council has sent the bulk of the policy recommendations to the City Manager’s office to be converted into ordinance language. City Manager Toby Futrell says she will likely call in outside consultants in order to complete a Council-ordered study on the economic impact the standards will have on small businesses and other stakeholders.

The Council voted last week to send all of the recommendations off to be codified except the sections dealing with development orientation and building design. Those two portions of the proposal drew the most criticism from the various stakeholder groups that have been involved in the 18 months of discussions. Some local restaurant owners opposed the building design rules relating to branded architecture, the distinctive stylized building design utilized by many national retailers.

“Please don't take the identity we have worked to achieve for the past 36 years,” said Mary Dozier, who operates a number of Taco Bell restaurants in the Austin area. “It’s the cost and potential loss of identity that causes us to focus on the design section of the proposed policy as it applies to new franchise structures. We want to continue to develop our business and our employees in Austin, but we need to keep our brand name and the elements of our brand on the building to identify to our customers who we are and where we are.”

The owner of several Sonic restaurants also appealed to the Council to take more time on the building standards, as did a representative of the AustinIndependent Business Alliance. “We are requesting a local business economic impact analysis to be performed prior to any Council vote on the proposed design standards,” said AIBA Director Melissa Miller . “We are certainly supportive of efforts to keep Austin from becoming Anytown, USA…but we are concerned that there could be unintended consequences brought about by this initiative.”

The Real Estate Council of Austin, the Building Owners and Managers Association, and land use lobbyists Nikelle Meade, Jeff Howard, and Paul Linehan also asked the Council to hold off on sending that portion of the guidelines to the City Manager. The proposals reviewed by the Council did find support from other business and community organizations, including the Downtown Austin Alliance, LiveableCity, and members of the Planning and Design Commissions.

While the resolutions approved by the Council did not require the building design and development orientation portions to be codified just yet, the Council did send the portion relating to signs and billboards to the City Manager. That portion of the document also came in for some criticism. Sign company owners and representatives, including one from the International Sign Association, said the guidelines would be too restrictive and deprive businesses of a valuable asset. “We generally laud the effort that Council Member McCracken and his staff have led,” said Brad Greenblum, who spoke on behalf of a coalition of sign makers and installers. “We support the aesthetic environment upgrade, but we basically have some issues with specific sections of the sign code. Signage is the most effective, least expensive advertising for businesses, which is especially important for small business. There are lots of studies that revenues go down drastically when signage is lost.” Greenblum and several other speakers requested more time, ranging from 30 to 60 days, for additional input into the proposals.

Mayor Will Wynn said that additional stakeholder input would still be welcomed as the staff begins working on the ordinances relating to the design guidelines. “It seems to me an affirmative vote will in fact have that happen,” he said, “that is, the City Manager now has the direction to go and spend real time and effort to actually try to put into language the concepts that have come together so far. As most folks in this room know, that’s where the rubber hits the road.” As part of McCracken’s motion to provide instruction to the City Manager, Council Member Betty Dunkerley requested an economic impact study as suggested by the small business representatives and some land use attorneys. McCracken accepted the amendment, which was included in the motion the full Council approved.

City Manager Toby Futrell advised she would try to find the resources for that project, along with the major re-write of the City Code directed by the Council. “I’m actually going to be recommending that we bring on some help to get this done,” she said. “It is going to be very difficult to pull staff to dedicate to this and move it along in any reasonable time frame.” In the meantime, the portions relating to development orientation and building design should be back on the Council’s agenda on May 12. Those still wishing to weigh in on the other portions already sent to the City Manager will have another opportunity to voice their concerns in the future. “All we’re doing is saying we’re ready to continue the process…there will be another public hearing and there will be three votes at the time it comes up,” said McCracken.

The sections dealing with development design and building orientation are scheduled to come back to the Council in two weeks for further discussion.