HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975 06-26 Design restrictions criticized for denying "basic freedoms" REVIEW i> m Ii 0 0 6 9 r • e
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The Maplewood Community money businessmen were re- Wiegert said later the chamber ument the problems and pre-
Design Review Board is taking quired to spend to meet require-• is going about its investigation senting them to the Community
away businessmen's"basic free- ments for signs,to requirements "the right way," seeking to doc- DesignReviewBoard.
dorns of imagination, color taste for "matching garbage contain- •. .
and architectural design,"a Ma- ers."
piewood• resident told the city MANY OF those ' require-
council last week. ments, he said,are in the realm
Richard Wiens, a public sere- ofersonal taste and "some-
ant pastor of Trinity Baptist times have nothing to do with
Church in Maplewood, said a the codes."
two-hour investigation he made The restrictions strike particu-
uncovered a list of people dis- larly hard at the small business-
turbed about"the extreme petti- man who would like to start
ness of trying to do something with "basically nothing," Wiens
• business-seise on a small scale" said.
in Maplewood.
WIENS said he had had diffi- One businessman, he said, is
culties with the city in applying so fed up with harassment"
for a variance to build a garage. from city officials that all he
He said he began his investiga- wants are the jobs of City Plan-
tion after a city staff member ner Robert Reed and City Man-
told him, "If I thought I was ager Michael Miller.
having problems, I should talk Wiens said he had contacted
to some of these businessmen." newspapers and state officials
After contacting several bust- about possible investigation of
nessmen, most of them in the local restrictions on small busi-
nesses:are a of County Road C and 1
%Viiite Bear Avenue, Wiens said "WE'RE getting dictated to in
he is convinced that the problem so tremendously many areas that
is severe enough that he is «'ill- there's no freedom at all left,"
ing to "organize the community_ he said. 1
for action." ,
However, Councilman Donald
Wiegert said that the council is
aware of the complaints and that
the Northeast Arca Chamber of
Commerce has established a
committee to meet .pith the
Community D e s i g n Review
Board on those concerns.
WII:GERT said Maplewood is
"interested in a nice-looking
community. 'mat's what that
board is trying to do."
but, he said, the council is
telling; businessmen, "If we've
exceeded where we ought to be,
then you arc the people who
should let us know." •
Wiens said the complaints he
gathered ranged from the extra