Several communities have used ordinances to favor masonry over vinyl siding, but the practice is being challenged by a lawsuit arguing that the added cost prices out low-income minorities.
"The controversy over requiring brick on new homes is spreading locally and has entered the civil rights arena nationally.
City leaders in Columbia, Ill., heaved insults at St. Charles County two years ago, saying they didn't want their town to become a "sea of vinyl" like some places in the fast-growing Missouri county.
So the Columbia City Council found a powerful weapon in an ordinance requiring all homes in new subdivisions to have brick or stone facades. It was approved early last year.
Now, Millstadt, another Metro East community, is considering a similar ordinance.
The idea is not new. Ellisville in west St. Louis County has had an ordinance requiring the use of masonry - quietly, with little controversy - for decades.
Home builders and the vinyl industry are not taking this sitting down. In fact, a possible precedent-setting civil rights lawsuit is moving through a federal court in Texas.
The National Association of Home Builders, the NAACP and the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin are suing Kyle, Texas, an Austin suburb, over a similar brick ordinance that they say prices minorities out of the single-family housing market.
The lawsuit has serious ramifications for much of the country, including the Metro East area."
FULL STORY: Home brick laws could hit stone wall
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
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Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
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If we overlook fair housing principles in the plan to build US housing back better, we risk ending up right back where we started.
LA Metro Board Approves New 710 Freeway Plan
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Austin’s Proposed EV Charging Rules Regulate Station Locations, Size
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Making California State Parks More Climate-Resilient
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City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
