07-12-07 Planning Comm. Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minnetonka Planning Commission Staff Report Meeting of June 14, 2007 Brief Description: An ordinance regulating dynamic signs Recommended Action: Recommend that the city council adopt the ordinance Background The city council and planning commission discussed the regulation of dynamic signs at its study session on May 14, 2007. Staff has prepared an ordinance incorporating the direction from that meeting. The major issues are discussed below. In formulating the proposed ordinance, staff consulted with SRF Consulting and Gerald Wachtel, a national expert on changeable message signs. Their final report is attached on pages Al-A42. General Framework The easiest approach to dynamic signs, from both a legal and enforcement standpoint, is to either prohibit all of them or allow them with no restrictions. Instead, the ordinance incorporates a balanced approach to dynamic sign regulation that protects community interests, while recognizing the need to reasonably accommodate evolving sign technologies. The term "dynamic" display is defined in the ordinance to identify all displays that have changing messages, regardless of the means. By avoiding descriptions that identify the type of change, such as "electronic," the ordinance can better deal with future technologies that have not yet been developed. This approach also recognizes that changing messages by any means can be distracting to the driving public. Signs are a form of "speech" protected by federal and state constitutions. As a result, cities must be very careful that sign regulations generally do not discriminate on the basis of message content. It can be a challenge to defend an ordinance that draws fine distinctions when allowing certain kinds of signs to be dynamic while prohibiting others. Accordingly, the dynamic sign provisions will "overlay" the city's existing sign regulations. There would be no change to the existing standards regarding such things as zoning, number, size and location. As a general matter, the dynamic regulations would apply equally to all signs, with few distinctions between zoning districts or between on- and off-premise signs. Although residential districts are deserving of more protection than other zoning districts, that is taken into account in the underlying regulations. Additionally, there are