What Happened in Door County?

• The Sturgeon Bay Planning Commission decided July 18 to send a proposal for a citywide design code on to the Common Council.

Community Development Director Marty Olejniczak says that the design code will hopefully reinforce a sense of community aesthetics without getting in the way of property owners looking to build on or improve their property.

“You want some clear standards, to let people know exactly what we’re looking for, but yet you don’t want to tie the hands of architects or property owners,” says Olejniczak.

The city already requires property owners in the industrial park, 3rd Avenue historic district, and waterfront district to submit to design approvals before construction permits are issued. Olejniczak says that while a few approvals in those districts have been denied, the commissions that oversee the approvals are not overly stringent.

The new design code will likely come before the Common Council in August.

• The results of the Door County Coastal Byways Committee’s information gathering meetings are now posted on the committee’s website, doorcountycoastalbyway.org. Anyone interested can see what stories and landmarks were recommended as being representative of the communities along the byway, as well as contribute their own recommendations, by visiting doorcountycoastalbyway.org and clicking on the box titled “DCCB Interpretive Planning.”