Red Words

The Planning Commission has rejected an idea to establish a new city commission to examine building designs, commissioner Paul Foster said.

"In a nutshell, after a 45 minute conversation, after all the commissioners expressed their views, we decided we didn't want another review body," Foster said.

The Planning Commission decided against creating a new commission Tuesday afternoon. Commissioners had the options of establishing a "technical design review committee" or an "architectural review board." Essentially, both proposals boiled down to ideas to create city panels that would be empowered to make sure new buildings in Redlands look nice.

Both proposals would have added time to the approvals process for new construction and Foster said additional reviews could have also meant that developers would be required to shell out additional fees for the extended process.

Redlands is an architecturally-rich city where Mission Revival,(Burrage Mansion, A.K. Smiley Public Library, the Post Office branch on Brookside Avenue), Classical, (University of Redlands) Victorian (several homes) and Craftsman (more homes) exist in a harmony that harkens back to a Southern California that was built before the era of large tract home developments and shopping malls.

Commissioners haven't given up on the idea of keeping Redlands ahead of the stylistic curve. He said he and two other commissioners, Gary Miller and Eric Shamp, will serve on a subcommittee that will work on architectural standards for future developments.

Foster said it's too early to predict what those standards will be. He envisions the guidelines as something that developers will take into account when they commission architectural designs.

Besides being a city where several architectural styles can be seen, Redlands is also a city where several commissions have been empowered to discuss public business. The city's Web site lists 15 such panels.