BERLIN – Members of the town’s planning commission took what they hope is the first step toward putting commercial architectural design standards and guidelines in place this week.
The planning commission voted 5-0 to approve an ordinance that makes it clear that the commission will ensure that proposed commercial development fits in with the town’s historic architecture.
“That at least gives us statutory authority to generate some kind of guidelines,” commission member Pete Cosby said.
Now that it has the planning commission’s approval, the ordinance will be forwarded to Berlin’s mayor and council for consideration. If approved, it will be added to the section of the town’s code that addresses site design guidelines.
Berlin’s planning commission members have been discussing the need for commercial architectural design standards for much of the past year. Although commercial developers in the past have heeded the commission’s architectural advice, that’s all it’s been — advice.
“They’ve had good fortune in the past,” said Dave Engelhart, the town’s planning director.
Engelhart said that though commission members always expressed their interest in making sure new structures fit in with the town’s architecture, they had no standards to back them up.
Engelhart said design standards were particularly important when it came to dealing with franchise architecture.
“What’s to stop them from putting that in instead of something that fits the community?” he said.
Although the town still doesn’t have standards, an ordinance stating that the commission will “review and approve all proposed commercial development to ensure it complements and enhances the town’s historic architectural character and uniqueness in accordance with design standards” is a step in the right direction, according to commission members.
“This takes that luck element out of it,” Engelhart said.
Commission chair Chris Denny agreed that the ordinance was a start but said that even with it developers would still fight it if they thought they needed to. He referenced the Ocean City projects that move forward with insufficient parking.
“Any document you get somebody’s going to find a way around it,” he said.
Commission members acknowledged that creating architectural design standards would take some time but agreed to start the process in January.
“I think we should get on top of the standards as soon as possible,” Cosby said.