Ferrous Bueller's Day Off

The City of Slidell has passed an ordinance banning the use of metal cladding all new building within the city limits.

Brick, stone, stucco and various other materials - but not metal - will be the standard for building exteriors in Slidell from this point forward, the City Council agreed this week.

The council voted 6-0 Tuesday to ban new metal construction.

Officials have said they want to minimize the presence of metal buildings in the city to keep it from becoming too industrial-looking.

In addition, residents have said at meetings where the city's master plan has been discussed that they want to improve the look along the city's main thoroughfares, and that means fewer metal buildings. The change to the zoning code calls for the entire exterior of buildings in commercial districts to be covered in brick, stone, architectural block, stucco, glass, wood, fiber-cement siding or vinyl siding, though vinyl siding would not be permitted for more than 25 percent of the total exterior walls.

The first question I have is, what should industrial buildings look like. My second question is; is the city council totally deranged? Don't answer that.

But seriously folks, they want to ban metal cladding for new buildings but allow vinyl siding? Yeech! I was hoping to have something more substantial to say about this, but that would be like having a serious discussion about Beavis and Butthead.