In the wonderful world of planning, building design and architecture play a pivotal role in shaping the physical landscape of our cities and towns. Land use regulations traditionally have governed everything from building height and setback requirements to facade materials and architectural styles. While a lot of the time the purpose of some of those land use regulations is often to enhance a community’s aesthetic appeal, some of them are also intended to promote safety, and preserve established community character.
Are Building Design Regulations A Thing Of The Past?
While land use regulations do serve important purposes, they can have unintended consequences, particularly for housing affordability. Meeting required design regulations often requires additional time, expertise, and materials which drive up construction costs. Stringent regulations can also deter some developers entirely from pursuing projects, particularly in areas where profit margins are already slim.
Points like these have a lot of people in the industry rethinking their stance, attempting to do their part in the affordable housing battle.
Can Communities With No Building Design Requirements Be Beautiful?
Likely, yes, but they may be beautiful in a different way from those communities with more stringent architectural/building design regulations. The absence of formal guidelines may allow for a more organic or eclectic development pattern as buildings will most likely reflect individual tastes, cultural influences, and availability of local materials.
Should You Reduce Regulatory Barriers To Provide More Affordable Housing Options?
For Utah, the State Legislature has answered that question for us. §10-9a-534 of Utah State Code (as amended) prohibits the regulations of certain building design elements in an attempt to quell additional or unnecessary increases to construction costs.
In order to be compliant with §10-9a-534 , you’ll need to review your municipality’s current ordinances and assess if there are any existing regulations that need to be removed or amended in order to be compliant with these requirements.
Need Advice Or Want To Learn More?
Check out our online training modules here! Note: civiclinQ is able to provide free access to more than 45 different land use training module topics courtesy of funding provided by the Utah Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman from the 1% surcharge on all building permits in the State of Utah.
