People are quick to warn that legislating taste is a slippery slope and that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, but surely we should have more say in the way our towns look than we currently do.
It's no secret that here in Delta we do our fair share of town planning, agonizing over details like what use is permitted where and how tall buildings are allowed to stretch into the sky, but when it comes to what those structures actually look like, it's curious how local guidelines essentially fall silent.
Yet when you think of it, a building's appearance, and not necessarily what's housed inside, is what determines the feel of any community, so shouldn't we be paying more attention to that part of the equation?
I think Coun. Ian Paton is on to something with his suggestion last week that municipal hall needs to create visions for Delta's town cores.
We go to great lengths to determine height limits, tormenting ourselves in some cases with the often-imperceptible choice between three and four storeys.
We also place restrictions on density, square footage, setbacks from the road, number of parking spaces and a host of other components of the development process.
These are, admittedly, all necessary details to ensure we get a building that's compatible with our wishes, but that structure's outward appearance, the single greatest impact it's likely going to have on the wider community, is, for all intents and purposes, not subject to any civic regulations.
I don't think Paton is looking for municipal hall to suddenly become the taste police, but if there were general guidelines in terms of architectural styles and colour schemes, it would result in a more uniform, and ultimately more attractive, look for our town cores.
Designating a West Coast theme for Tsawwassen would make abundant sense and would offer enough latitude that uniformity wouldn't necessarily mean monotony. A heritage theme for Ladner, a look that has already taken hold in many instances, would similarly offer direction but also provide the requisite variety.
If we take a little more interest in the look of buildings, the uses we routinely squabble over might not seem so important. I often marvel at that stretch of 47A Avenue just west of Arthur Drive in Ladner that's home to a string of very attractive heritage buildings. They house all manner of uses, but that diversity works because the look pulls it all together.
