Design guidelines

SIKESTON -- Historic Downtown Sikeston is hoping for a consistent look but won't be forcing it on anyone.

"We have a booklet of the design standards," said Brandon Kuehn, executive director of Historic Downtown Sikeston. "It has everything in it from painting to building a new building to landscaping."

The design standards are an outgrowth of the Downtown Revitalization and Economic Assistance for Missouri Initiative.

"One of our recommendations out of this program was to create some sort of guideline or standard for the rehabilitation of all the buildings, the reason behind that being these are historic properties -- some of the oldest buildings in town," Kuehn said. "Some are at a certain point where they are starting to need repairs. This way those repairs can be done in a way that will complement them, keep a cohesive look with the new streetlights, the brick streets. It would be nice if the buildings look historic, too, to match the setting. You can call it the historic part of town but if it doesn't look like it, it won't have the right feel."

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