Article: Towns rethink plans to enhance communities; Lull in construction gives time to ponder guidelines for future.(NEWS)

Byline: DAVID PETERSON; KATIE HUMPHREY; STAFF WRITERS

Lakeville wants more brick facades and less precast concrete.

Belle Plaine wants to keep from turning into a forest of blinking highway signs.

Farmington wants to find a real role for its historic downtown, even as suburbia envelops it.

At a time when there isn't a whole lot being built, cities all across the south metro area are taking advantage of the lull to try and make sure that what does go up when the crash ends is better, and more community-enhancing, than what got built before.

But they are also encountering pushback from business owners.

"I think I have ...

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