Discussion:
Following Supreme Court decisions and in-depth scrutiny of the existing sign ordinance, staff has determined that a whole rewrite of the ordinance is necessary to conform to Supreme Court rulings and to better streamline and simplify the ordinance for better and easier comprehension.
Shakopee’s current sign ordinance has issues that could possibly put the City at risk to challenges based on the language in certain sections and overlay districts that supersede zoning designations and apply separate standards for parcels within the same zoning district, but in different area of the city. For a more in depth analysis of the issues, attached with this report is an overview of the existing sign ordinance with line by line comments and notes.
Staff presented an initial draft to the Planning Commission and received feedback and deleted and changed a number of sections. Staff has also met with the Chamber of Commerce.
The workshop will be a review of a draft ordinance presented by staff and a discussion on how to proceed with a rewriting of the sign ordinance that will bring the City in compliance with the Supreme Court rulings and update the ordinance to be clearer for the public and staff, and follow a national best practice standard..
In this draft, the current ordinance has been completely replaced with new language while slightly altering existing standards for most districts which would now be regulated by their zoning districts rather than by overlay zones. New language has been added to better define the City’s interest in regulation, to better and more clearly address temporary signs, sign illumination standards have been set, the "sign adjustment" process has been removed and replaced by the existing Conditional Use Permit process, and sign overlay districts are eliminated; sign standards will be instead based solely on the zoning district a parcel is designated in. This is to bring equal treatment to parcels located in the same zoning district in addition to defining standards for parcels which currently are without. This transition is smooth for most districts aside from the Highway Business (B-1) District which will see standards equalized from the previous overlays which split the B-1 District between Traditional and Contemporary Commercial Corridors. Other Districts will see little change in the current allowed standards for size and height of signage.
Attached will be the existing ordinance with a line by line review and comments and a draft of the potential new sign ordinance which is based off a national level best practice. This model conforms with free speech and equal treatment rulings by the Supreme Court that provides consistent language for each zoning district in the City while still allowing for property owners to adequately advertise their commercial businesses or services. This model code is a major departure from the current enacted code and will require close review from Council. The attached ordinance is a draft and as such is subject to alterations based on the feedback heard today.