Lone Tree, Colorado
Colorado
Lone Tree turned away IKEA because the store's blue and yellow paint job didn't meet local design standards.
IKEA wanted to build here. The city said no. The problem was the paint. Those signature blue and yellow walls did not meet Lone Tree's design standards, so the store went up in neighboring Centennial instead. That kind of fussiness was the whole point of the place. Lone Tree began on Memorial Day weekend in 1982 as a new subdivision with exactly nine households. It sat in unincorporated Douglas County, which meant no local government, no enforced zoning, and missing infrastructure. Residents formed a homeowners association and got steadily more annoyed. By 1991 there were thirteen separate homeowners' associations and still nobody with real authority. In late 1994 community leaders started pushing for incorporation, describing what they wanted as a first-class community with high design standards and carefully planned landscaping. The vote came in November 1995. Six hundred seventy-six people said yes, one hundred sixty-five said no. The first city council met the following June, with Jack O'Boyle as mayor.
This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.
When IKEA sought to build a location in Lone Tree, the city declined due to the company's signature blue and yellow exterior not meeting local standards; IKEA subsequently built in neighboring Centennial.
Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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