Last week I asked two questions: (1) Should we continue regulating building color like we have been doing, and (2) Can the regulation be objective and free from misinterpretation? Today I will answer the second question, because that’s easier. Tomorrow I will post my answer to the first question along with my rationale.
Our current regulation for building colors is subjective. That has resulted in problems, which have been clearly expressed in emails from residents, Nextdoor comments, and the two public hearings the Planning Commission had over the past nine months discussing this issue. I believe Mike Haycock, head of the City’s Building Department, agreed this was a problem and he asked the Planning Commission for more objective measures.
I reviewed other ordinances and talked to city department heads in other “deserty” communities and met with the Community Development Department in Springdale to get a “walk through” of their approach to regulating building colors and communicating choices to developers and property owners.
These cities (Springdale, Sedona, Scottsdale) have objective, simple requirements for building colors. They all use “The Munsell Book of Color” to regulate colors. They told me they use this source because it gives them a predictable standard for colors. It is objective. It eliminates subjectivity.
I asked them why they regulate color and do not allow some current trendy colors, like white, super saturated, and very light colors. All said they want to reduce the visual impact of buildings using colors that emphasize muted earth tones blending with their natural desert environment.
None of the Cities allowed all the color choices on any page. They all had a minimum and maximum limit for the “value” of the color (how light or dark it is). That’s the vertical scale. They also had limits for the chroma, shown on the horizontal scale.
Springdale uses an “overlay” that blocks out high chroma and high value chips on any page. But all the chips are kept in the book so when someone comes in with their paint chip color, they can easily see if their chip falls within or outside the acceptable ranges.
I recommend the City buy The Munsell Book and get input from design professionals and residents on acceptable hues, chroma ranges, and value ranges. All three cities had similar ranges, but there were differences. That’s because although they are all “deserty” communities, the colors in their natural environments are visually different from each other. As is ours.
Please share your comments on this topic and tell me about other Ivins issues I have not addressed in recent posts. Email me at Mike@MikeScott4Ivins.com.
Recent “Development” posts
- Bigfoot And Affordable HousingBoth are elusive creatures that everyone talks about, but few, if any, have seen. Even so, the State Legislature is putting more pressure on cities to find housing affordability solutions. On top of that, the Governor is calling on cities to create 35,000 “starter” homes for first-time home buyers. In response, Mayor Hart created an…
- Developers With Seeger SyndromeDevelopers in Ivins have the Seeger Syndrome. For Pete’s sake, they’re hammering in the morning! They’re hammering in the evening! They’re hammering all over this city! Ivins issued 100 to 150 residential permits a year between 2015 and 2018. Permit activity almost doubled after 2018, peaking in late 2021 at close to 300 permits for…
- We Should Be Seen… But Not Heard!The expression “children should be seen and not heard” is an old English proverb. It wasn’t just a saying. They meant it. Children could be present but should not speak, particularly when they are around adults because children are naive and ignorant of adult matters. My, how times haven’t changed. It sounds like Governor Cox…
- Shooting For A Four-Star General PlanA general plan exists to guide decisions about how Ivins should grow, based on our community vision, priorities, and values. It’s important. Really important. Our current plan dates back to 2015 and needs updating. We started that process almost two years ago, in January 2022, with a series of community meetings. That was followed up…
- Is This The Right Plan?The Planning Commission has finished their recommendations for revisions to our General Plan (click here for the PDF). They will hold a public hearing to get comments from residents on Tuesday, September 19th starting at 5:30pm before considering any final changes based on public input and sending their recommended plan to the City Council for…