Plain City staff presented a draft ordinance-level architectural design standard for commercial, industrial, institutional and multifamily development and discussed how the city would treat existing buildings that are renovated. The council generally supported a 40% remodel threshold for applying the new standards and directed staff to carry the draft to Planning & Zoning.

A staff speaker opened the topic by saying, “So tonight, we're talking about architectural design standards,” then explained the draft targets higher-quality materials (brick, stone, stucco, fiber cement, textured concrete, metal panels) and discourages large expanses of low-durability materials such as full vinyl siding except as small accents. Staff said the standards were intended to raise corridor appearance and durability and to be required as part of a major site-plan submittal.

Staff asked the council to weigh whether the design standard should force upgrades on existing buildings and — if so — when. The draft recommends that an exterior renovation replacing more than a specified percentage of the facade (staff proposed 40% in the session) would require the upgraded materials under the new standard. Council members asked whether natural disasters or insurance-driven rebuilds would be exceptions; staff said waivers would be considered through the Planning & Zoning Commission process.

Council members asked about practical effects on existing businesses (the meeting cited a car-wash example) and about compatibility with projects already approved under other PUD or Uptown-specific rules. Staff clarified Uptown District properties would remain subject to their own standards and that the proposed rules would act as a default standard for other areas. Staff also said the city would allow limited exceptions if applicants demonstrated equal or greater durability than a required material.

On timing, staff said the draft will go before the Planning & Zoning Commission on the fifteenth and that the council’s goal is to have the standard adopted early next year (staff noted a February 1 implementation goal). Several council members signaled informal support for a 40% remodel threshold during the work session; one councilmember said, “40 is pretty common.”

There was no ordinance vote at the work session. Staff will take the draft to Planning & Zoning for public hearing and then return to council with recommended language; code adoption requires the normal P&Z review, public hearing and council vote. Staff also said early commercial projects tied to imminent road and utility improvements (e.g., a new gas station pad) may appear in site-plan reviews next year and would be subject to the adopted standard once the code is in effect.

Ending: Council members asked staff to add clarifying language about when renovations trigger compliance, permit waivers for disaster-driven rebuilds to be considered by P&Z, and the relationship between the new rules and existing PUD/uptown standards. The work session did not adopt final language; Planning & Zoning review is the next step.