Builders, trade group fight local vinyl siding bans

A vinyl siding ban in Carrollton, Ga., recently was overturned after local builders and the industry's trade group raised concerns about its effect on private property rights, affordable housing and free market economics.

That's one jurisdiction down for vinyl siding supporters and at least 17 to go in Georgia, where five other cities and 12 counties have ordinances that limit or ban vinyl siding.

These places, mostly in metro Atlanta, have imposed a variety of architectural standards on new housing that dictate exterior building color; type or style of exterior cladding materials, roofs or porches; architectural ornamentation; or location and style of windows and doors, including garage doors, according to Alex Fernandez, government affairs director for the Vinyl Siding Institute Inc.

To address all the jurisdictions with restrictions, VSI, a Washington-based trade group, and some Georgia builders are pushing for a statewide remedy in the form of a law that would prohibit local residential building design ordinances for one- and two-family dwellings.

A Georgia state representative is expected to introduce such a bill any day now.

There's cause for optimism for VSI and the builders. They had a similar victory in North Carolina in 2015, when the state's General Assembly passed a law that says local governments can't enact ordinances that control design and aesthetics of one- and two-family houses, including what type of siding can be used.

Four years later, the work of vinyl siding advocates is gaining traction in Georgia — Realtors have come on board, too — and ramping up in Tennessee as a coalition forms to level the playing field for the most popular cladding in the United States.

Durable, low-cost and maintenance-free, vinyl siding has been installed on more newly built single-family houses than any material since 1994, peaking at 40 percent in 2002 before a slow decline. About 27 percent, or 213,000 of the 795,000 houses completed in 2017, had vinyl siding as the primary exterior wall material, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Vinyl siding's benefits and place in U.S. neighborhoods was first evident in the Midwest and Northeast, where it offers a tidy look free of care despite harsh climates. It can be cleaned with mild soap and a garden hose, and it never needs to be painted or caulked.

The cladding's popularity extended south during the housing boom of 1997-2006, much to the chagrin of the region's powerful brick industry and some local planners and officials. Vinyl siding critics called for more regulations, and ordinances were amended.

"I think it's a reflection that vinyl siding isn't as popular in the South," Fernandez said in a phone interview. "During the housing boom, it became more accepted as an inexpensive way to build houses. But there were some bad installations, and when it's installed wrong, it doesn't hold up well. It can get wavy. So some developers in these states have a bad taste for vinyl. That's one component, but it's not the only one."

Vinyl siding opposition in Carrollton, a city of 26,500 about 45 miles west of Atlanta, was mostly about the aesthetics, Fernandez said. VSI representatives and some builders convinced local officials to overturn their ban on vinyl cladding on Jan. 7.

"We showed the benefits of our siding, but at the end of the day, this is a private property issue," Fernandez said. "We argued that as long as a product is deemed safe and there are no contractual concerns, as with a homeowners association, the city or county has no basis to tell you how to build your house or how it can look. Private citizens should be able to side their houses as they see fit."

In a 4-1 vote, the Carrollton City Council amended its design standards for single-family houses and townhouses to allow vinyl siding, reversing a ban that had been quietly adopted in 2017, according to Georgia builder John Denney, who spoke at one of the meetings.

"My largest concern is that a decision was made with no actual evidence considered," Denney said in an email. "I think that if a government entity is taking away a person's right to use a product, there should be empirical evidence demonstrating that the product is causing harm to their constituents."

Denney said he and others demonstrated that all siding products can have problems related to poor quality materials or sloppy installation.

"We could also credibly explain that vinyl siding was easier to install correctly than most alternatives," he said. "I've been building for over 40 years and have seen many good and bad products, including cement fiber board, brick and stucco. Vinyl is certainly far superior to most wood and Masonite, both of which are allowed in Carrollton."

Why is the most popular home cladding for the last 25 years the subject of so many restrictive ordinance provisions?

Matt Dobson, VSI's vice president of regulatory and advocacy, traces vinyl's bad rap to the smart growth codes promoted in the 1990s by the American Planning Association. The goal was to implement smarter planning practices as suburban sprawl moved an era of building away from city centers and suburbs to rural areas, Dobson said in a phone interview.

"Then, the planners started building in architectural requirements," he said, pointing to limits on vinyl siding that prohibited its use on the fronts of houses while requiring brick or banned it outright.

"In my view, vinyl siding had a negative perception with planners because they associated it with sprawl," Dobson said. "It had nothing to do with sprawl except that it was a popular at the time. In the sprawl era, people saw cornfields filled with vinyl-sided houses and they associated that with a bad architectural feel."

In North Carolina, the planning requirements for housing went far beyond banning or limiting vinyl siding. Dobson said builders were required to have three-car garages, a certain number of front windows and specific landscaping, shutters and porch sizes.

"We estimated that it added $10,000 to $20,000, maybe more, to the cost of housing," Dobson said. "The homebuilders got upset because local government is now dictating what the market should be dictating."

Vinyl siding advocates shot back with information about the cladding's innovations, such as multiple attachment points to create wind resistance that exceeds 110 mph and advanced UV coatings that resist fading and help dark colors stay vibrant.

Still, in places such as Holly Springs and Apex, Dobson said vinyl siding wasn't allowed in certain conditional zoning areas, where growth that could boost the tax base was expected and the perception of vinyl siding was negative.

"We'd try to educate planners," Dobson said. "We showed them a design guide about how the product can be applied correctly. We told them how its life has increased dramatically over the years due to coextrusion. We told them about product improvements to hold color, even darker colors, which are guaranteed through a product certification program."

Overall, it took about three years of meetings and presentations before North Carolina passed a bill that clarified the state's existing law and rolled back design requirements expensive to homebuilders and buyers. The bill cleared the Senate 43-7 and House 98-17 with bipartisan support.

Dobson and Fernandez expect a tougher challenge in Georgia, where restrictions are more widespread and home rule is a bigger consideration than it was in North Carolina.

Fernandez said the Carrollton ordinance provision was similar to what other Georgia communities have in place.

"They don't hide it," Fernandez said. "When I tell you it's a ban, literally it says we are banning vinyl siding and that's the end of the discussion."

At the state level, VSI is ready to discuss all issues related to vinyl siding, some of which is manufactured in Georgia but can't be used everywhere there.

Like in North Carolina, the proposed bill for Georgia carves out exceptions for historic districts, manufactured homes, the national flood insurance program, and covenants between property owners and homeowner's associations.

"We feel fairly confident the legislation will pass it this year," Dobson said. "We have good allies with the homebuilders and Realtors and the American Chemistry Council is giving us a hand."

Vinyl siding withstands precipitation, wind and severe temperatures in mountain climates without warping, rotting or needing to be painted. Photo courtesy of the Vinyl Siding Institute Inc.