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Observations:
<br />Staff is prepared to bring forward changes to only the temporary sign regulations at this time.
<br />Based on City Council direction, staff will move forward with examining the electronic sign
<br />regulations and permanent sign standards at a later date, perhaps at a worksession or workgroup
<br />setting.
<br />All temporary signs, including real estate, garage sale, public event, and .portable, commercial
<br />signs, would be subject to the following regulations. (Special Note: State Statute trumps City
<br />regulation, and says the following in Section 211B.045: In any municipality, whether or not the
<br />municipality has an ordinance that regulates the size or number of noncommercial signs, all
<br />noncommercial signs of any size may be posted in any number from August 1 in a state general
<br />election year until ten days following the state general election.)
<br />Size:- The proposed ordinance proposes to limit all temporary signs to 50 square feet. Currently,
<br />the City Code does not specify a maximum size for business signs, but limits real estate signs,
<br />garage sale signs, and construction signs. In order to preserve some level of size restriction, staff
<br />is proposing an overall size restriction of 50 square feet. Based on the permits issued in 2007,
<br />this is the maximum size requested.
<br />Location: The proposed ordinance would -allow off-premise temporary signs, with the permission
<br />of the property owners, but not in the right-of--way. Currently, our City Code does not allow off-
<br />premise signs, but exempts real estate signs, public event signs, government signs, and garage
<br />sale signs, (and in practice, Game Fair, SummerFest, and HarvestFest, signs). Because the
<br />ordinance will no longer differentiate such exemptions (in order to comply with legal precedent)
<br />off-premise signs must be allowed to maintain a similar level of flexibility for residents.
<br />However, the primary purpose of prohibiting off-premise signs is to ban billboards. We would
<br />still prohibit off-premise, permanent signage and are proposing a size limit for temporary signs.
<br />Duration: The current sign ordinance allows temporary signage to be permitted for up to six
<br />weeks per parcel (or business for multi-tenant facilities). However, because we will now be
<br />allowing off-premise signs, the Planning Commission felt that this time should be extended to
<br />allow more time for sign display. Staff is proposing an incentive-based time extension of four
<br />weeks, assuming no prior sign violations within the year. Also, the Planning Commission has
<br />requested that balloons or other attention getting devices are permitted in addition to the sign
<br />allowance up to 4 times per year, for one week at a time.
<br />Amount: The current ordinance allows 2 signs to be displayed on a property concurrently. The
<br />Planning Commission has requested amendments to allow up to 3 signs at a time on multi-tenant
<br />properties,. and the ordinance has been revised accordingly.
<br />Permit and Fee Structure: The current ordinance requires a permit and fee for all temporary
<br />business signs, but exempts garage sale and real estate signs. A permit, but no fee, is required for
<br />any sign erected by churches,. non-profits, and government agencies or any public event signs. In
<br />2007, 29 of the 75 temporary sign permits issued were exempt from a fee, but still required a
<br />permit application to be mailed, processed, and a permit sent back. Staff has estimated that the
<br />loss of revenue would be $2,500 to $3,000 per year in sign permit fees lost. However, almost
<br />40% of the work to issue permits was not compensated, and eliminating the permit and fee
<br />requirements would save staff time in reviewing the permit, entering it into the permit system,
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