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City wants feedback on design rules

Current standards are lengthy, ambiguous and inconsistently enforced

By: Staff Writer

Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013 at 10:44 AM | Comments: 1

Got a beef with the way parking lots are laid out? Don't like the look of strip malls? Have some ideas regarding boulevards and sidewalks?

Now's your chance to make an impact: The city is looking to update its urban design standards, and they are looking looking for public feedback.

Public workshop

Influence the city's urban design guidelines

Riverbank Discovery Centre
Thursday, March 21
6–8 p.m

Planned updates to Brandon’s urban design and landscaping standards are expected to promote innovative, high-quality building and site designs in way the city touts will improve the quality of life and "liveability" of the community.

As part of this effort, the city's planning department will host a public workshop next Thursday, March 21, at the Riverbank Discovery Centre.

People with ideas or suggestions on how to improve the quality of life through design principles are encouraged to attend the workshop, scheduled for 6–8 p.m.

Final recommendations on updates to the standards and guidelines will be brought to Brandon City Council for approval in the fall.

The guidelines will be updated for things like building materials and facades, use of landscape material and buffer zones, building signage, pedestrian connections, and overall design quality. The city says it helps to ensure not only that developments are high quality, but also to help enhance property values, promote economic development, and reinforce community identity.

Ryan Eidick, project manager with the city's planning and building safety department, says they will be revisiting the standards set forth in the existing regulation in order to create a more concise and user-friendly document.

"Right now, the documents, although well-researched and informative, have been underutilized by the development community and inconsistently enforced by city departments," he said, blaming both the length of the rules as well as their ambiguity.

"Our goal is to clarify the existing policies and combine them with new input in order to create a clear and succinct document that reflects the community and provides clear standards for all future development."

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Posted by:jim irvine

March 13, 2013 at 5:01 PM

Change that stupid design you have for "City of Brandon". Grade one student could do better than that!!!!!!!!

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