Village adopts downtown design guidelines to guide future redevelopment
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Summary
The Village Board unanimously adopted architectural downtown design guidelines developed with Farnsworth Group. The non-mandatory guidelines provide recommended materials, signage, lighting and implementation tools including incentives and a proposed design-review advisory committee.
The Village Board voted to adopt downtown architectural design guidelines developed by Farnsworth Group at its Nov. 4 meeting.
Penn Chastain of Farnsworth Group and the project's architect, John Stryker, presented the guidelines, which the firm said were developed with residents, business owners and the historical society following the 2023 downtown redevelopment plan. The document is advisory, not mandatory, and is intended to help attract businesses, encourage reinvestment, and create a unified “turn-of-the-century prairie railroad” character for downtown Manhattan.
Stryker described a toolkit of recommended materials, colors, signage, lighting and minor enhancements such as awnings and uniform fixtures. He recommended the village create a design-review or advisory committee and consider incentives—grants, rebates or tax incentives—to encourage voluntary participation by building owners. The firm also suggested a pilot project to demonstrate the approach.
Board members said they wanted to preserve a farm/country feel rather than a modernized look and supported incentives to encourage owners to remodel. A motion to approve the Farnsworth Group guidelines was made, seconded and passed by roll call.
The guidelines will be posted on the village website and staff indicated implementation steps (committee creation, incentives, pilot projects) would follow.