Cheyenne, Wyoming City Council kills downtown design standards proposal

The Cheyenne, Wyoming City Council voted down a measure that would have implemented design standards for new construction and building additions downtown.

The goal was to help jumpstart the revival of the state capital’s central business district. Detractors said this move could backfire and dampen downtown development. The standards would regulate how far buildings must be set back from the street, what construction materials could be used, and how open spaces are included in the projects. There are currently no building design standards for the city’s downtown. It is the only zoned district in the city without that type of regulation.

One critic told the Wyoming News that downtown is a perfect place to allow architects and developers to experiment with different styles and building materials rather than forcing them to match the character of surrounding buildings.

A local architect and downtown property owner said guidelines can help to raise the quality of designs, but added that it would be a good idea to include a flexible appeals or exemption process for developers who want to build quality projects with "innovative and modern designs" that might not meet all the design regulations.

(http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2014/11/25/news/01top_11-25-14.txt#.VHXlUjTF_ng)

(http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2014/11/19/news/19local_11-19-14.txt#.VG30yDTF_ng)

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.