Dear Editor:

I would like to personally and publicly express my appreciation to the Blanco City Council for their actions on August 12, 2008 in approving a budget request for matching funds to employ a professional architect to develop Design Guidelines for the City of Blanco. Design Guidelines are the heart and soul of the Visionaries in Preservation (VIP) project as well as the City of Blanco’s Comprehensive Master Plan, both of which have been developed over the past several years with substantial and enthusiastic community participation. With matching funds from the Texas Historical Commission, the Design Guidelines will identify just what it is architecturally that contributes to Blanco’s “sense of place” and will make specific recommendations to the City Council on how to preserve that special feeling we all have about our community. The whole effort will prevent Blanco from morphing into just another “Any Town, U.S.A.” by avoiding standard corporate designs for the fast food restaurants, motels, big box stores, service stations, and the like that will be built in our community in the years to come. The Council wisely retains the prerogative of applying the recommended Guidelines to just our Historical District and commercial corridors or to other areas of the city as the Council may later decide. The Council’s forward looking actions are an investment in the future of Blanco that will encourage tourism and economic development in our community while preserving Blanco’s rural character and small town feel. The citizens of Blanco were well served by the Council’s decision.

Wayne Gosnell

Blanco, TX