New building ordinance tests City Hall's
facade of fair play
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An established manufacturer didn't need an exception to erect a metal building, a Daingerfield businessman did, and the new storage shed in Dr. Thomas Nix's back yard is brick, in keeping with Mt. Pleasant's new masonry facade ordinance.
It's the city's second shot at a facade ordinance. The first passed in the early 1990's but was scrapped following its first brush with protest.
Passed in May, the ordinance requires that the front of buildings on "certain roads and thoroughfares" be 75 percent masonry. Sides and back have to be half masonry.
Looking to expand his business into Mt. Pleasant, Daingerfield car dealer Pete Watkins in September was the first potential builder instructed to pay a $250 fee to grant his request to appear before the city's planning and zoning commission to ask for an exception.
The fee isn't required in ordinance language. Rather, said City Planner Nita May, the payment was in keeping with fees charged for other citizen appeals to the commission.
The ordinance allows for exceptions to the masonry requirement based on architectural creativity.
"This is a theme project," Mr. Watkins told the five commissioners, describing a replica of a traditional gable-roofed red barn he envisions as a landmark location. As designed, he said, the 3,500-foot structure is expected to cost about $250,000, about twice the cost of a pre-fabricated building that would have met previous city codes.
"I'm not asking for the exception so I can build the cheapest building possible," he said. "I'm asking for it so that we can create what we've envisioned."
Commissioner Bo Howard summed up response in a sentence.
"There's nothing creative about a barn," he said before the commission voted to recommend the exception be denied.
Mr. Watkins took his appeal to the city council, pointing out that his contact with the city planner's office dated back to November, that the city was aware of his plans, and that he was never told about the pending ordinance passed three months after he bought his lot and began dirt work.
It wasn't pending at that time, Mayor Jerry Boatner said.
Former city manager Paul Parker, who left the city in June, said the ordinance was "on the front burner" when he arrived in 2001. That year, the city adopted a comprehensive plan recommending the passage of a facade ordinance.
Various facade ordinances have been considered over the years and the specific regulations of the ordinance passed in May make it different from those previously considered, Mayor Boatner said, adding that the city is under no obligation to share such information with potentially affected parties.
Former city councilman Dwight Elledge didn't see it that way.
"I feel like he got caught in a trap," said Mr. Elledge, who resigned in keeping with his office's residency requirements after selling his home inside the city limits.
Basing his call on the creativity exception, Mr. Elledge moved that the council override the zoning commission and grant the request.
Action was tabled and Mr. Watkins was instructed to return to the next council meeting, where the exception was ultimately granted.
Meanwhile, in the same week Mr. Watkins was pushed to a hearing by city officials who said they didn't have authority to allow an exception to the rules, the same offices issued a permit to Priefert Manufacturing for construction of a steel building.
Citing that building's "compatibility" with other structures on that property, city engineer Darrell Grubbs said the ordinance was intended to address new construction on vacant property.
That logic didn't hold for Dr. Nix, who was held to the masonry standard before getting a permit to build a storage building in his back yard.
As for the Priefert permit, Mr. Grubbs said he, Mrs. May and Mayor Boatner discussed that request before issuing the permit, determining that no exception was needed.
"It wasn't the one we were looking for to be our first test," Mr. Grubbs said. "We were looking for something like the Pete Watkins building."
City manager Courtney Sharp said staff will review the new law.