Minutes - Council - 06/14/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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7.05: Introduce Ordinance #22-19 Amending Sign Code to Allow Off-Premise Digital Billboard Signs Interim City Administrator/Community Dev. Director Hagen reviewed the staff report and recommendation to introduce Ordinance #22-19 amending sign code to allow off-premise digital billboard signs. He stated that the Planning Commission has recommended that the City Council deny this ordinance. Councilmember Woestehoff asked if Interim City Administrator/Community Dev. Director Hagen had mentioned that it would not be residential. He stated the golf course is considered PUD and asked if that would be included in what would be considered as residential. He asked if the golf course would be an example of an opportunity for one of those billboards. He asked for clarification for the future ordinance. He asked if there was interest by Council to reduce the number from three to two. He stated he is opposed to it regardless but would rather there be fewer of them. Councilmember Heineman noted that the Planning Commission recommended denying this and asked Councilmember Woestehoff to comment on that as the liaison. He asked if this was part of the same case that the EDA pushed forward and asked Councilmember Howell or Councilmember Riley to speak on that for context. Councilmember Woestehoff stated that Commissioner Walker indicated he didn’t like the idea of changing the rules to allow the City to benefit from something and be a benefactor of the digital sign. He stated overall it seemed the consensus was along the lines that it doesn’t necessarily fit with the idea of rural Ramsey or the vision for Highway 10 and that it may be wise to delay it until it is known what Highway 10 is going to look like. Councilmember Riley commented on behalf of the EDA that this idea came from the EDA not as a source of revenue for the City, that came out of it later, but as an opportunity to help businesses that can’t afford to do advertising on their own or have sightlines to Highway 10. He stated the public nature of the billboard and being allocated toward local use would be a benefit to local businesses. He stated through discussion it was determined that not only would it not cost the City but that it would be a source of revenue and one that was self-sustaining making it an easy decision. He stated he wasn’t sure the zoning was discussed but that the idea came from the EDA. Mayor Kuzma commented when he was on the EDA when this came up and he was in favor of this because smaller businesses would get a break on costs to highlight their business and be a benefit to them which he supported. Randy Bauer, 14942 Quintana Street NW, Chair of the Planning Commission, stated it was a four to three vote. He stated the four who were against it were primarily because they don’t like billboards in general. He stated they seemed to be surprised when they learned how many billboards the City already has because they were grandfathered in when Ramsey was incorporated. He stated there wasn’t objections specifically because it was digital. He stated the three supportive votes thought it was great idea. City Council /June 14, 2022 Page 11 of 17