The city of Gluckstadt has taken steps to establish architectural design standards.
“This is an effort to give guidance to people who want to build and develop in Gluckstadt,” said Gluckstadt Mayor Walter Morrison.
The mayor and board of aldermen voted on April 1 to adopt an ordinance that sets out the design standards for the city, which was incorporated in June 2021.
The five-page ordinance puts in writing the expected design styles, materials and general use of those in commercial, industrial, interstate and mixed multi-family residential developments as well as two-family and multi-family zoning districts. The ordinance was drafted to be in harmony with existing ordinances already in effect.
City of Gluckstadt leaders have already established an architectural review board and the planning and zoning commission and the board of aldermen review site plans.
The city of Madison is known for red brick structures, some of which have columns, but it’s not as easy as that to distill the architectural design standards for Gluckstadt. “There’s no way to describe it in just a few words,” Morrison said.
The design standards require dumpsters to be screened from sight by a fence or wall at least six inches taller than the tallest point on the dumpster with solid front gates and dumpsters are to be located behind the building they serve and not visible from any public street.
The fence screening a dumpster is required to be constructed of “an opaque material made of brick, stucco, split face block or similar material to that of the principal building,” according to the architectural guidelines.
All ground-mounted mechanical, HVAC and similar systems are to be screened from the public street view (within 300 feet) by an opaque wall or fence of similar material to that of the principal building.
The architectural guidelines provide requirements related to various types from mansard roofs to flat roofs.
In commercial zoning districts, “building design shall exhibit architectural control which seeks to be creative and which best utilizes building lines, shapes and angles to maximize architectural integrity,” according to the guidelines.
Primary building materials that are not allowed in commercial zoning districts and in industrial zoning districts with properties located within 1,350 feet of the center line of the right-of-way of a collector or arterial road are “unadorned pre-stressed upright concrete panels, unfinished concrete block, metal siding (such as galvanized or unfinished feel, galvalume or unfinished aluminum) and pole-type building materials.”
In commercial zoning districts at least 50 percent of all exterior wall finishes should be composed of at least two of the following materials: brick, natural stone, glass, stucco or stucco-like finishes, Hardy Plank or other fiber cement board or other comparable or superior material approved by the architectural review board.
In two-family, multi-family and mixed multi-family zoning districts, “the exterior finishes shall include a variation in building materials that are to be distributed throughout the building facades and coordinated into the architectural design of the structure to create an architecturally balanced appearance,” according to the guidelines.
The architectural review board may approve materials and designs that differ from those required with the ordinance provided “the proposed building maintains the quality and value intended by this section, the proposed building is compatible and in harmony with other structures designed by standards in this section within the district and the design exceeds the ordinance.”
Any building is subject to denial that does not meet the architectural standards as determined by the planning and zoning commission and the mayor and board of aldermen.
