Paint It Black

We all know the lyrics, “I see a red door and I want it painted black.”

Sorry, Sir Mick, nice try, but you can pack away your brush and paint bucket because no painting will be going on in Winchester’s Corridor Enhancement District without a blessing from the City Planning Commission.

Read all about it, here.

Sadly, another layer of bureaucracy is about to be implemented on property owners who live or own property located in the Corridor Enhancement District. For those that don’t know, the “district” is basically all of the major entryways leading into the city towards the downtown area.


The proposed ordinance will permit, “no more than three colors, excluding roof colors…for buildings in the Corridor Enhancement District.”

Damn, I guess the rendering of Elvis I was thinking about doing on the side of my house is a no go.

It appears as though the days when you, as a property owner, could go to the local hardware store and choose the colors YOU like the best are slowly fading away. I now have to submit a color scheme plan to the City Planning Commission for approval if I want to paint my house or rental property if it is located in the district.

The first question I asked myself was, what exactly makes the City Planning Commission experts on color schemes? Have they had some special class in what a good paint scheme is? Second, what if I get turned down? Will they come back to me and say, “here is what we like” or “this is what we prefer.” Third, and most importantly, what about my property rights?

City beautification is all fine and well. However, this is a little over the top in my book.