(Spirit Lake)– The Spirit Lake City Council voted four-to-one earlier this week to add a new provision to the city’s architectural standards ordinance. The change means any business in Highway Commercial areas looking to remodel will have to comply with the ordinance. Originally, remodeling projects weren’t included. Councilman Pat McNorton cast the lone dissenting vote saying he’s concerned it would keep many businessowners from making needed improvements.
The council also Tuesday waived the first two considerations and adopted a revision to another ordinance that makes property owners responsible for maintaining greenspaces in subdivisions that are dedicated to them. The city requires a certain amount of land in subdivisions be set aside as greenspace. But the city says it can’t maintain all those because there’s getting to be so many of them, and some are difficult to get to. Under the revised ordinance, the dedication of those greenspaces to adjoining property owners would be done on a case-by-case basis.
