City Commission to consider new retail design standards

When it comes to retail stores, cookie cutters should be something they sell, not a description of their buildings’ designs, Mayor Mike Rundle said.

City commissioners at their 6:35 p.m. meeting today will consider giving tentative approval to a new set of design guidelines that would provide more specifics about how new retail stores in the city should look. Rundle said what new stores shouldn’t look like is every other new store in the country.

“I think we’re certainly settling for less than I think we could have,” Rundle said.

The new guidelines will include requirements that the exterior of every new retail building include some natural materials, like brick or stone. Brad Hauschild, long-range planner with the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department, said the guidelines were meant to help ensure that the buildings were not simply large and rectangular with large amounts of bright colors.

“By having that natural stone requirement, we’re hoping that will help create a uniform look in an area,” Hauschild said.

Hauschild also said the guidelines were meant to make developments more pedestrian-friendly and more attractively landscaped.

City Commissioner David Schauner said he thought design guidelines were needed.

“If you put up a very expensive building, to have somebody build something next door that is totally inconsistent with what you’ve done, doesn’t seem fair,” Schauner said.

City Commissioner David Dunfield, who is a Lawrence architect, said he thought the design guidelines would be reasonably well-received by future stores looking to locate in the community. He said many communities on both coasts already had adopted design guidelines.

“They should be used to dealing with the concept in different communities,” Dunfield said.