Someone planning an addition in Midway pulls up the city's design language, reads about carved beams, curved Riegelhaus rooflines, and stucco-and-timber walls, and assumes every lot in town answers to the same design authority. Then the plans come back from the wrong committee, or there was never a committee to submit to at all. The confusion makes sense. Midway does have a Swiss-European architectural code on the books. It just governs a smaller slice of the town than the postcards suggest.
The ordinance covers less ground than people assume
Midway City Code Section 16.13.370 requires new construction and substantial remodels to conform to a Swiss-European architectural theme, but the section is specific about where. The requirement applies to the C-2 and C-3 commercial zones, the Resort Zones, and, as of a City Council vote on April 7, 2026, places of worship in any zone. Structures on the national or local historic register are exempt regardless of zone. That's the entire list. Standard residential zones such as R-1-9, R-1-15, R-1-22, and RA-1-43 are not named in the ordinance at all.
The April amendment is worth pausing on, because it shows the code is still moving. Before Ordinance 2026-09, a church built in a residential zone had no obligation to match the Swiss-European theme the way a new restaurant on Main Street would. The council closed that gap by extending the requirement to places of worship in any zone, a change the Planning Commission recommended specifically so future religious buildings would "better match the Midway theme and vision" described in the General Plan. If the council has amended the scope once this year, a homeowner shouldn't assume the current boundaries are permanent. The zoning code is worth checking fresh before drawings get commissioned, not pulled from an old printout.
So why do whole neighborhoods still look the same?
Because a handful of residential subdivisions adopted the aesthetic voluntarily, through private covenants rather than city law. Communities like Dutch Fields, The Hamlet, Valais, Zermatt Village, and Interlaken each run their own architectural review committee under recorded CC&Rs. That committee can require Swiss-inspired rooflines, timber detailing, and stone-and-stucco walls on a residential lot the city ordinance never touches, because the authority comes from a contract homeowners signed at closing, not from Section 16.13.370.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. A city ordinance and a homeowner association covenant look similar on a builder's checklist, but they are enforced through completely different systems.
| Midway City Ordinance (16.13.370) | HOA Architectural Review (CC&Rs) | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | C-2, C-3, Resort Zones, places of worship | Only lots inside a covenant community |
| Reviewing body | Midway Visual Architecture Committee | Private ARC named in the CC&Rs |
| Legal basis | Municipal code, under state land use authority | Recorded covenant, contract law |
| Consequence of skipping it | City can withhold the building permit | HOA can fine, lien the property, or force changes |
| Can the requirement change | Yes, by City Council ordinance vote | Yes, if the HOA amends its CC&Rs per its own bylaws |
Outside those named communities and outside the commercial, resort, and worship zones, a Midway property may have no design-theme review at all. Just the ordinary zoning dimensional standards, height limits, and building permit process that apply everywhere in the state.
The Scotch Fields lesson: a private board doesn't guarantee private delivery
If a buyer picks a subdivision partly because its covenants promise architectural cohesion, it's worth looking past the CC&R language and into how the HOA actually functions. Scotch Fields is a useful example, not because its design rules are unusual, but because of what happened around them. City Council minutes document homeowners reporting that the developer had promised amenities, including a sports court, tennis court, and pavilion, and delivered only partially. The HOA later transitioned from developer control to homeowner control, and residents raised concerns at a public meeting about landscaping that hadn't been finished to the standard they were sold.
None of that ran through a city appeal process, because none of it was city business. It played out between homeowners and their own board, the way any dispute over a private covenant does. A City VAC decision on a commercial building can be challenged through the land use appeal channels the state provides for municipal actions. An HOA's architectural ruling, or its failure to hold a developer to a promised amenity, gets argued at board meetings and, if it goes further, in civil court. Buyers weighing a covenant community for its design consistency are really underwriting the health of that HOA's governance, not just the strength of its written rules.
What actually gates your renovation
Before hiring a designer, the practical sequence looks like this:
- Pull the current zoning designation for the parcel. Commercial (C-2, C-3), Resort Zone, and any place of worship trigger the city ordinance. Residential zones (R-1-9, R-1-15, R-1-22, RA-1-43) do not, on their own.
- If the parcel falls under 16.13.370, plans for a substantial remodel or new construction go to the Visual Architecture Committee for a compliance recommendation, not just brand-new builds.
- If the parcel is residential, check whether it sits inside a covenant community. Dutch Fields, The Hamlet, Valais, Zermatt Village, Interlaken, and Scotch Fields all carry their own ARC review through CC&Rs that the city ordinance never mentions.
- If the lot is residential and outside any HOA, confirm there's no design-theme requirement in play at all, only standard zoning and building code.
- Confirm historic register status either way. It exempts a structure from the city ordinance regardless of what zone it sits in.
Skipping this sequence is how a homeowner ends up with a full set of drawings rejected by a committee that was never the one with jurisdiction, or approved by a body that had no authority to bless the project in the first place. Both boards judge similar things, exposed beams, arched doorways, acceptable roof and shingle styles, but they answer to different law, and only one of them is public record you can read before you commit to an architect.
FAQ
Does buying outside these named HOAs mean there's no design review at all? If the parcel is zoned residential, sits outside a covenant community, and isn't a place of worship, the city's Swiss-European ordinance doesn't reach it. Standard zoning and building code still apply, just without the architectural theme layer.
Could the city extend the ordinance into residential zones later? The council has amended the ordinance's scope within the past few months, adding places of worship in April 2026. That history suggests the boundaries aren't fixed, and it's worth checking the current code text rather than an older summary before finalizing a design.
If my HOA's ARC rejects my plans, can I appeal to the city? No. ARC decisions are enforced through the community's recorded CC&Rs, a private contract, not municipal code. Recourse runs through the HOA's own governance process or civil court, not a city appeal board.
Figuring out which review body actually has jurisdiction over a specific Midway parcel, and how well that HOA's board has historically functioned, is exactly the kind of groundwork that belongs in the due diligence phase, not discovered after a design has already been drawn. Jenica Lynne Parker and the Parker Properties team pull the zoning file and the relevant CC&Rs before a client commissions a single drawing, so the right committee sees the right plans the first time. Start Effortless Ownership. Schedule a consultation before you break ground.
