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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 21, 2025 Page 3 Section 9 1 This section currently provides for removal of illegal signage by the City, irrespective of the 2 type and location of such signage. It arguably creates a duty on the part of the City to remove 3 such signage, which can be problematic on private property, or where there are other 4 circumstances that may affect the prudence of this level of enforcement. The City retains other 5 options for code compliance but proposes (on the advice of legal counsel) to limit the 6 removals option to commercial/industrial property of illegal signs that are larger than 6 square 7 feet. Signs under this size are identified in the Sign Ordinance as being specifically allowed 8 for all purposes – especially non-commercial speech and enforcement (if appropriate) would 9 best be addressed on a case-by-case basis. With this change, the smaller noncommercial 10 speech signs (6 square feet or less) would then be subject to alternative enforcement measures. 11 12 Section 10 and 11 13 This section addresses transient merchants and peddlers. The City Code has a number of 14 licensing and procedural requirements for such merchants but notes also that any such 15 merchant is required to hold a county license. In researching this process, it was noted that 16 both Hennepin and Ramsey County have extensive licensing requirements for transient 17 merchants and meddlers. Staff proposes deletion of this City licensing/regulatory requirement 18 to eliminate overlap and clarify regulatory responsibilities. One existing short section is 19 retained, specifying that the intent of the (County) licensing may not be to limit anyone’s 20 legitimate exercise of Constitutional rights, including free speech, expression, press, religion, 21 etc. 22 23 Sections 12 and 13 24 Adoption/Admin language. There are several sections of the code dealing with enforcement, 25 and that refer to the Code “Enforcement” Official. This language will be replaced with the 26 revised title Code “Compliance” Official. 27 28 Secondly, the current zoning language has several sections that refer to “permitted” activities. 29 Many of these are more accurately rendered as “allowed” activities. Because a “Permitted 30 Use” is a term of art that refers specifically to uses that DO NOT require further permitting, 31 the text is being updated to inclusively refer to “allowed” uses, which may be permitted, 32 licensed, conditional, or require some other process. 33 34 Staff is requesting the Planning Commission comment and act on this collection of code 35 amendment updates. The revised Ordinance was provided for Commission consideration. 36 37 Chair Socha opened the public hearing at 7:15 p.m. 38 39 Chair Socha referred to Section 1 and asked for Commission comments. Commissioner 40 Anderson asked if the double fee was between the building code and the city code. Mr. 41 Grittman responded the fee would be doubled. Mr. Grittman stated Cities can impose fees that 42 are equal to the cost of enforcing the code. Commissioner Anderson asked if the time and 43 flexibility should be written in the code. Mr. Grittman stated that can be suggested but staff 44 believed it was best to leave that at the discretion of the City Council. Commissioner Mayne 45 asked if there was a time period where the work was done years ago and Mr. Grittman stated 46