Jefferson City's downtown harkens back to an image of classic Americana.
The Capital City's image is certainly well-known by those who call it home, but it's also gained national attention. In 2013, Jefferson City was named the Most Beautiful Small Town by Rand McNally.
City officials said it's time to restart conversations about building standards to preserve the downtown culture that has drawn such acclaim.
Developing building standards was in the city's comprehensive plan 20 years ago, as well as the one that was approved this year.
In 2019, the city started discussing a change to the zoning codes to add building standards to downtown, but the COVID-19 pandemic paused the discussion.
City staff said it's time to bring the topic up again.
How would overlay district work?
Jefferson City Planning Manager Eric Barron said the building standards can be as tight or broad as the community wants. He's looking into a neighborhood conservation overlay district for the downtown area - mostly focused around High and Madison streets, but with larger boundaries that aren't set yet.
The creation of an overlay district requires review and recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Commission and approval from the City Council.
However, Barron said, city staff plans to add several steps to that as this proposal moves forward.
He's presenting the topic to the Planning and Zoning Committee on Thursday to get input before forging ahead. Also, once staff has a proposal ready, Barron said there will be a community engagement period before the commission votes on the proposal.
"We don't have a system in place today to really receive or respond to any kind of comments because we don't have a proposal sitting out there," he said. "I'm happy to discuss with anyone, but we don't have the actual proposal sitting on the table. It's a lot easier to discuss it with something like that."
The downtown proposal, Barron said, will include a review process, likely staff-run, where projects that meet all the regulations get approved. However, projects that don't could go through "some sort of special review process."
For instance, a committee of citizens could review denied projects and talk with the property owner to decide whether it fits downtown.
Jefferson City already has two neighborhood conservation overlay districts: one is on Main Street between Brooks and West High streets, which was established in 2001; the other is on East Capitol Avenue, which the city created in 2017.
For those, Barron said, a project that doesn't match the overlay district's requirements can be approved through changing the zoning to planned unit development (PUD) or a variance approval - both of which go through the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council.
However, a downtown overlay district probably wouldn't use the PUD or variance process. Rather, Barron said, it'll likely be along the lines of a special exemption, which is tied to the permitting process and currently related to land use.
While the three processes function slightly different, they all go through the Planning and Zoning Commission.
"We're too early to know if that's a proper process or not," Barron said. "There would definitely be some sort of process to allow for flexibility for unique projects that are outside of the standards that get put in place."
9 preliminary building standards
While not a formal proposal yet, staff isn't starting over. The information gathered in 2019 provides a new starting point.
Based on initial conversations, Barron said, staff settled on nine preliminary requirements. But those nine could change, based on the meetings.
The nine preliminary requirements are:
- The buildings must sit aligned with each other along the street. For instance, the owner of a vacant lot wouldn't be able to put up a new building that sits 30 feet back from the sidewalk, Barron said.
- A building's entrance must face the primary street, but corner lots could instead have corner entrances.
- Any parking lots must be at the back of the property - behind the building, fence or landscaping.
- Buildings would have a height minimum of two stories. While a maximum wasn't discussed, per Jefferson City code no downtown building can exceed 140 feet in height or 750 feet above sea level, whichever is lower. That roughly aligns with the base of the Capitol Building dome, Barron said.
- Exterior walls must be brick, stone or manufactured stone.
- There could be a minimum or maximum amount of window space. For instance, Barron said, the district could require a storefront-style window on the ground floor or including windows on the other stories.
- An overlay district could require some kind of stylized entryway that includes an awning or columns, or is recessed into the building.
- It could also require details in the roofline design through a rim, special shape, ornamental molding directly under the roof called a cornice or decorative work slightly farther down referred to as a frieze.
- Buildings must have low-slope roofs, which is commonly defined as a roof without a steep enough slope to put shingles on.
Staff based these requirements on buildings already standing along East High and Madison streets, but there are some buildings downtown that don't have some of the discussed features. Those properties would be grandfathered in and not expected to change.
Reception from businesses
Downtown business owners support the idea behind the proposal - preserve downtown's personality - but are cautious about the regulations.
Natalie Newville, vice president of the Downtown Business Owners Association, said the members plan to discuss it, but remember being receptive in 2019.
"A lot of members don't want it to be overly restrictive," she said. "I anticipate throughout 2022, in the spring, it will become an ongoing discussion that we've just kind of started that first step toward (having)."
River City Florist co-owner Mike Moscato said he'd support the overlay depending on what the final regulations would be.
"Generally, I'm against too many restrictions," he said. "However, some things are necessary. If it's for the good of downtown and most of the merchants or residents or landlords agree with it, that's great. Anything that would be too much and come with a big price tag I think would be met with resistance."
Wendy Gladbach, owner of Ana Marie's Bridal, said she'd also agree with some basic restrictions.
"If it's just a basic 'don't put aluminum siding back up on the buildings like they did in the '70s,' I don't think people will have a problem with it," she said. "If they get real restrictive on what kind of windows you can put in and stuff like that, I don't know."
Newville said she's heard a specific concern about needing to use a certain type of brick. However, in a district with broader regulations, they wouldn't get that specific.
While many downtown buildings share the same characteristics, she said, not all do, and that's important to recognize in these discussions.
"The library is an example," she said. "The library building doesn't really tie into the rest of how a lot of downtown looks. Same with the Baptist building. As buildings are being redone and as things happen, trying to get it where it all kind of goes together, I think, is important."
Other overlay districts
Local developer Holly Stitt is renovating four properties along East Capitol Avenue, which reside inside the boundaries of the Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District.
She said it's important for people to know if their property is in one of these districts, but it hasn't kept her from doing what she wanted to with the properties.
The Capitol Avenue overlay district is focused on preserving the historic look of the properties. In Stitt's mind, there have been no issues with her projects because of the overlay district.
She owns 501, 507, 511 and 513 E. Capitol Ave., which she's currently renovating.
The overlay district doesn't allow for metal roofs. However, Stitt said, she got one approved for 501 and 507 E. Capitol Ave. by showing a picture of the homes with metal roofs.
"I had a picture of 501 when the road was dirt," she said. "Even though the overlay doesn't say that's allowed, by having a picture - and I submitted it with my permit - it got approved I don't think (the overlay district) has been a hindrance."
Stitt said the process of building the district was done very well.
"We (the property owners) had regular meetings with the city," she said. "We were understanding, we did feedback and a whole lot of stuff."
That's the approach city officials hope to take with the proposed downtown overlay district, Barron said.
He said people seem surprised when he tells them Jefferson City doesn't have these regulations in place.
"That's one of the reasons why we think we need something," he said. "Why is that important? There's nothing today that would prevent someone from going in and building a completely incompatible building on a vacant lot downtown.
" There's nothing today that would protect from an existing building owner going in and putting sheet metal siding or all manner of things that are just not within the character of what one would expect in a downtown environment," he said.