Before moving forward with an ordinance amendment that would require building design standards in the main business districts within the city, the Albert Lea City Council on Monday voted to send the amendment back to the Planning Commission for further review and input from the public.

The amendment, which included specific design standards for vertical surfaces, including the fronts, sides and rear of buildings in the city’s main business corridors, had passed the Planning Commission last week. On Monday night, the council received additional public input on the amendment and had the first reading of the ordinance.

In the end, the council members concluded that while design standards are important to develop in the city, they needed to be reviewed more before being passed into the ordinance.

Third Ward Councilor Ellen Kehr said she thinks good design standards will serve as an excellent tool for the city, but noted that standards that are too restrictive can serve as a roadblock to economic development.

She said she hopes the Planning Commission and city staff can bring the amendment back to the council before the first of 2010.

Councilor Vern Rasmussen said he’d hate to throw an amendment onto the city’s books and then have to remove it two months later.

The discussion followed a presentation by Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Randy Kehr regarding input from area business owners about the amendment.

Kehr said the Chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee supports design standards and that if the city polled all of its members, they would want neighbors that raise, not lower, their property taxes.

However, the design standards are not appropriate at this time or in their current format, he said. To impose the guidelines would have long-term effects on economic development and would prohibit development in a number of ways, he noted.

He talked of other Minnesota cities with design standards and how their standards included more specifics and better wording in some areas.

Albert Lea resident Tony Trow, who is also a member of the Albert Lea Planning Commission, said the standards were meant to be a start, but he recognized that they would need to come up for review periodically.

“We’re just trying to get a start and see where it will go from here,” Trow said.

Community Development Director Bob Graham said the city has worked on developing design standards since 1998; however, nothing really came about.

Since, there’s been a number of occasions where there’s been a request for a design standard. The theme also came out strong in the Albert Lea Listens process as well.

Strong design standards in a city will bring people into the community, Graham said.

The Planning Commission, Community Development Office and members of the Chamber will revist the amendment in the next few months.