With many small towns needing all the business and housing growth they can get, it's a shame when stringent building codes and regulations prevent positive growth.
Maybe you live in DeKalb, Belvidere, Freeport, Byron, Rochelle or some other small town. Do you know of instances when a great downtown project was planned only to be stricken by very costly codes and regs?
There are at least seven projects that were planned for downtown Dixon that have been halted by strict codes.
Several property owners want to renovate their buildings’ second and third floors into beautiful apartments or lofts. To move forward with their plans they must install an expensive sprinkler system. That has put the stop on these downtown projects.
In the past couple of weeks, Dixon's Historic Downtown has lost two wonderful renovation projects. One building was being renovated to be an upscale brew pub. The owner had planned out code regulations to cost about $50,000. He then found out it would cost him $200,000. His building is now for sale.
Another downtown building owner had plans to turn a large riverfront building into several condos. Again, regulations and codes priced him out of the project.
It's a shame that great projects that would be wonderful stimulus for our small downtowns get shelved because of the rigidity of municipal building rules. I say, these municipal governments need to loosen up and look up the definition of compromise!
I'm Phillip LeFevre, and that's my perspective.
