(Spencer)– The Spencer City Council Monday evening approved the first reading of an ordinance revision that pertains to materials allowed to be used for exterior walls and roofing of residential structures.
Anna Harmon, the city’s Building Code Enforcer, told the council it reflects additional materials that are now on the market. She said the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended adoption of the proposed revision so it doesn’t become a “free for all”…
“We don’t want the cladding materials to be falling off and poorly performing. Mostly we want to keep water, moisture, out of our dwellings, out of our buildings. So we want them to perform well and look nice for the long term. That was one of the main points. The other point of discussion was that there are subdivisions throughout Spencer, those that regulate closely what materials are in those neighborhoods. That’s an opportunity for certain neighborhoods to narrowly restrict that. And then the discussion was is the purposed of the city to regulate the exact materials or the performance, kind of aesthetic or performance. And so that went back and forth and there was some desire to do some aesthetic regulation. But when it got more deeply into that it was a matter of well, what are we adverse to? And the primary things were, as you see, agriculture and industrial. So we don’t want our houses to be confused with factories and so forth. We do want them to look residential.”
The matter will come back to the council for a second reading at their next regular meeting scheduled for January 4th, 2021.
