New design standards for construction in the State Highway 7 corridor got their first approval Tuesday night.

The Hutchinson City Council voted 4-1 to give preliminary approval to what is known as the River Overland District Design Standards and Boundaries ordinance. Final approval could come at the council’s May 13 meeting.

Mayor Steve Cook cast the lone dissenting vote. He questioned why the proposed district stretches from Fifth Avenue Northeast on the east to Shady Ridge Road on the west. He thought that was considerably larger than the original focus on the section between Bluff and Montana streets.

The standards are designed to encourage downtown district construction practices to tie the corridor to the river and downtown.

For more about the River Overlay District, read the April 24 print edition of the Leader.

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)