03-06-2023 Council Work Session Packet

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1 WS – Item 1 WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT Work Session Item No. 1 Date: March 6, 2023 To: City Council From: Katie Larsen, City Planner Re: Sign Ordinance Amendment Background City Code Chapter 1010: Signs regulates signs. In 2014, the City amended the sign ordinance. Staff is proposing another amendment to the ordinance to reflect changes that have transpired from a federal court case. Kristin Nierengarten, attorney with Rupp, Anderson, Squires, Waldspurger, & Mace, will present the sign ordinance amendment. Analysis The main purpose of the revisions to the City’s sign ordinance is to bring the ordinance in line the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which determined that content-based regulation of signs are generally impermissible and could violate the First Amendment. In short, the court said that government can’t regulate signs based on the communicative intent or message of those signs. The courts have signaled, however, that concerns for safety can justify content-based sign regulations and that distinctions can be drawn for on-premise versus off-premise signs and commercial versus non-commercial signs. The sign ordinance revisions reflect this evolution in case law. A secondary goal of revising the sign ordinance is to increase its clarity and readability to ease administration and enforcement. This includes cutting down on unused definitions, standardizing language, and addressing potential conflicts or unnecessary language. For the most part, the revisions are geared toward maintaining the City’s original intent in its sign regulation, while eliminating disallowed content-based regulations. Planning & Zoning Board The Planning & Zoning Board held a public hearing on February 8, 2023. Public comments from representatives of Precision Tune Auto Care requested to increase the size of dynamic display signs from 20sf to 50sf. Staff supported a change to 32sf. The Board recommended approval of the sign ordinance with the condition that obscene signs be addressed and that staff research dynamic signs and bring back information to the Board at a later date. Obscene sign language has been added to the revised sign ordinance under Section 1010.005 Prohibited Signs.