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03/25/2008: "No Town Regulations On Colors"

No, it was not painted just for Easter, and no, there is nothing you can do about it. While there has been some head shaking and grumbling about the shade and intensity of the color, the Town pointed out there are no regulations to prevent it.

Asked about the choice, the lease owner of the building said “there was no color on the street, but now there is.”

It is not just the public that is less than pleased; the tenants of the building said they were not all that happy with the owner’s choice. One tenant said “I really don’t think it reflects what we have inside of the building.”

The owner also stated that so far “one third of the comments she has received have been negative, one third have been positive, and one third have yet to make up their mind.”

A Friday Harbor town official said there have been no comments about the color from the Town Council members, and while there have been discussions in the past about architectural controls or standards, the Council has not wanted to go that direction due to the difficulty of writing and enforcing regulations that deal with personal taste and aesthetics.

One of the tenants said they are no longer taking comments from the public on the matter, and tells people to talk to the owner about it if they don’t like it. A town official said “people can always ‘vote’ with their wallets, if you don’t like it, don’t patronize the place.”

This is not first time that a color choice has failed to please everyone. When the large building housing the bowling alley and the shops on Argyle was first painted, the color choice was made by looking at a one inch square paint sample. Once the two story walls were painted with the color, it was decided the outcome was not quite what the owner had in mind after all, and so a new paint job was ordered. Problem solved.