Cedar Rapids Today

The Marion City Council recently went over a proposal to change their code regarding architectural design in the city.

During a Jan. 5 Marion city council meeting, council members discussed the progress of a draft to guide city architectural design. In November of 2021, the Marion city council directed city staff to draft a community wide standard for building design to create a cohesive design scheme throughout the community. A draft was proposed in February of 2022 and various drafts and amendments have followed since. There are two main sections to the proposed code: Architectural Requirements and Site Development Plan Review Requirements. The city council did vote to approve this proposal and adopt it into the city code.

The architectural designs code is to be applied to all community wide buildings except for residences from 1-4 units and nonoccupiable units on private property, among a few other exceptions. The goal is to create a uniform feel that follows the goals and objectives of the city’s master plan while also allowing for architectural freedom and creativity. The site development plan review requirements create a more formal and clear process for getting site plans reviewed in the city. Any projects or sites looking to be redeveloped or rezoned will have to go through this process.

Senior planner David Hockett explained that this is something the community has been looking at for a long time now. Any developments that want to appeal the requirements can still, this is a move towards all the developments in the central district that aren’t already within the city scheme. The city had continued this vote from their public hearing on Dec. 22, however, no public comments were made and the council quickly adopted the proposal.

"So, the Planning Zoning commission will be that design review board to sit there and look to see how that material's applied and make sure it's applied in a manner that does make some sense and provides some design aesthetics to the project. That is the final stop for a project in Marion now for all these areas outside of the central corridor," Hockett said at the meeting. "If there's an appeal, that appeal will come to the council. If the developer or the applicant doesn't agree with the decision, he can appeal to the council, but essentially, design review essentially stops at the planning zoning commission with their final decision. So this will cover all the areas that we haven't had previous design standards on and I think it's something that's been asked for quite a while."