Building the City Brick by Brick

If the Big, Bad, Wolf comes to town to blow some buildings down, Bolivar wants to be ready.
The Bolivar City Council will vote at their scheduled meeting on October 18 on the passage of an ordinance to amend the zoning ordinance by adoption of new design review guidelines. It was passed on the first reading by the council on September 13.
The ordinance will put design standards in place for multi-family developments, neighborhood businesses, central businesses, planned businesses, office spaces, and structures along the Hospital-Medical District. None of these standards will affect current structures already in place.
“The State Planner brought it before the city council,” explained City Manager Shelia Dellinger. “There are so many buildings in the historical district that people have tried to do things to.”
Shelden Merrell, Regional Planner for the Southwest Tennessee Development District said that his recommendation came upon by request from the city.
“This is due to complaints and concerns about materials used for building,” he said. “This ordinance is not a final draft, it is nothing we are recommending but something they can consider if they want to control materials used in building. This is an avenue they can use to solve future problems. But this is not mandated by the state.”

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