City council to discuss boosting Topeka’s visual appeal

The Topeka City Council on Tuesday will discuss proposed changes to city building design standards aimed at improving Topeka’s visual appeal. The city’s governing body, consisting of the nine council members and Mayor Michelle De La Isla, plans to hear a presentation but not act on proposed amendments to city zoning rules that would change building design and landscaping rules for new non-residential construction.

The proposed amendments have been encouraged by the Momentum 2022 campaign to enhance this community, the Land Use and Growth Management Plan 2040 the city adopted and a “visual appeal survey” city staff members conducted this year regarding building design and signs, according to a document in the agenda packet for Tuesday’s meeting.

“Staff has been applying the design standards informally to submitted commercial projects for the last couple of years,” the document said. “Generally speaking, most projects that are submitted are well designed. An important outcome of the new design standards will be to elevate the design of those projects that are typically not well designed.”