WINDHAM – After almost a decade of talks on whether the town should impose design standards for new and renovated commercial properties, the Windham Town Council passed the measure with little fanfare Tuesday night.

While Windham is the first in the Lakes Region to adopt a set of exterior design standards, several larger towns and cities in the area, such as Portland, Falmouth, Scarborough and Brunswick, already impose them.

The new rules take effect after 30 days. They require any new building in the town’s Commercial-1, Commercial-2, Commercial-3 and Village Commercial zones to adhere to a certain set of building, parking and landscaping requirements. The proposal, 10 pages in length, only dictates exterior building design. Owners and developers are still able to design interiors as they see fit. It also impacts existing businesses planning renovations to at least 20 percent of the exterior.

There are few businesses in North Windham not affected by the new standards, which is a subsection of the land use ordinance. However, compliance with the standards is only triggered when commercial development requires site plan review. The standards do not apply to commercial zone structures of less than 2,000 square feet or any size business in a Residential Medium zone, which would include home businesses.

The standards are meant to be a rigid set of design principles reflecting a vision of North Windham more in line with New England-type construction. Pitched roofs and clapboard siding are some of the design elements that will replace the flat-roofed “big box” construction with metal siding that started to dominate suburban shopping areas in the 1990s. Fluorescent colors and shiny surfaces, such as the chrome used in vintage diners, will be banned, as well.

However, while the standards are meant to have teeth, there are options built into the system to amend the standards if a developer brings forth an otherwise quality design that may violate some of the new standards. The Town Council can amend the proposal in the future and, more importantly, the Planning Board, which has the final say in any building project, can offer individual waivers if it so chooses.

Local business leaders have diverging opinions on whether the design standards will be good for the economy.

Tom Bartell, Windham’s economic development director, said the standards will protect the investments of business owners when a garish project is proposed nearby. And, he said, the standards have the potential to remake Windham into something more aesthetically appealing than it is today, albeit at a higher price for materials. While he sees the benefits of requiring aesthetic exterior appearances, he hopes the standards won’t force another uniform building trend similar to the one North Windham has today, which was once considered modern and appealing.

“I’ve been an advocate for great design, not necessary design standards. So we want really good design and I want to see the creativity. I don’t want to see blandness come out of design standards,” Bartell said. “You’re replacing one perspective on how something looks with another. And I just don’t want it to be the same nondescript buildings down the road. But I’m sure there’s enough leeway within the standards to provide good design and that’s what we need to see.”

Allan Phinney, owner of Custom Shingles Sign Co. in North Windham and a longtime opponent of design standards, believes the standards will do much to stifle creativity and individuality.

“As a businessperson, I think that they’re way too restrictive,” he said. “I’m quite dismayed as a business owner that they want to handcuff people that way and try to homogenize the look so one business can’t differentiate themselves from another.”

Phinney served on the Development District Advisory Committee, which worked on the proposal prior to 2005, when the Town Council settled on a set of suggested guidelines instead of required standards. Phinney said he considered the adoption of guidelines as a victory then because it limited government’s reach into commercial enterprise. With Tuesday’s reversal, Phinney is discouraged with what he sees as too much regulation.

“At the time I thought I had accomplished something. We recommended to the council that these be adopted as guidelines, but now the current council has taken all our work and tossed it out the window,” he said. “And as a former committee member, I’m just appalled that they would ignore all of our work and do whatever they want to do. And, frankly, in the future, I’d think twice about joining a committee and doing my civic duty because I think that’s a slap in the face.”

Phinney was surprised the measure passed with little public comment Tuesday night, as was Council Chairman Scott Hayman, who in past weeks regularly expressed his disapproval with the proposal and publicly solicited comment from the business community, with little response. Tuesday’s discussion took less than 10 minutes, and besides Hayman, councilors offered little comment before or after the vote. The scene differed greatly from years ago when design standards were a divisive topic.

Councilor David Nadeau, contacted after the meeting, said the issue has received little comment because it’s been discussed so much that sides are entrenched in their viewpoints. He also said it received multiple public hearings during recent months as the Town Council and Planning Board passed it between themselves with minor changes. He said the five most recent public hearings on the proposal solicited little public comment.

“My point was we can argue this to death because it’s just one of those things, you either agree with it or you disagree with it,” he said. “And if you believe in it, let’s pass it and if it needs changing we can go ahead later and change them.”

Nadeau, in his former role as the Planning Board chairman, also said a reason why the measure passed with no fanfare was due to a compromise brokered about a year and a half ago, when he suggested a system be established that would mandate several key design elements and allow developers to choose from a list of additional optional ones.

All projects, according to the statute, have to adhere to a set of about eight design standards but developers can pick and choose among a remaining set of two-dozen design elements. Once they earn enough points by incorporating a minimum of the optional design elements, the project automatically qualifies, Nadeau said.

Nadeau said the compromise gives developers some leeway but ensures major design elements are followed.

“I think the way it was developed is a real change from what it was years ago. I think it’s a real fair system the way it’s put together,” Nadeau said. “By doing the options, it’s not taking away people’s creativity.”

Asked how long it would take for the public to see a shift in North Windham’s appearance, Nadeau said, “it’s already happening.” He said businesses such as Tractor Supply Co. on Route 302 and Goodwill Industries, under construction beside Walmart, have incorporated the design standards into their buildings.

“Goodwill is a good example. They’re incorporating ideals of the standards when they were only suggestions. And that is the ideal. It’s not a cement block. You didn’t get your cement-wall building like Walmart. You got facades and a good-looking building,” he said. “But it’s like anything else that deals with good planning. You’re not going to see overnight transitions, but it’s a good plan and [we’ll likely] see transitions 10 years down the road.”