Woodbury talks about sign ordinance changes

Talk about it

The city of Woodbury is looking to make some changes regarding its sign ordinance that will affect businesses that hang banners and monument signs in residential neighborhoods.

The proposed changes were addressed and discussed at the Monday, Nov. 3 Woodbury Planning Commission meeting, but no formal recommendation was made.

Last December the city extended a moratorium on new freeway billboard signs as its planning staff studied the possibility of updating its sign ordinance that currently bans the construction of new freeway billboard signs.

The changes discussed Monday were related to the city’s recent moratorium on new freeway billboard signs that it originally adopted in 2007 and extended for one year last December.

Woodbury senior planner Melissa Douglas said the recommended changes are related to the billboard moratorium, but also include the results of a broader look at the city's sign ordinance that includes proposed changes to banners and monument signs that are found at the entrance of many neighborhoods.

“After review, city staff felt that our current ordinance was adequate to regulate billboards with minor revisions,” Douglas said. “We plan to discuss the proposed revisions to the sign ordinance with the planning commission to get their feedback.”

Currently, the city’s sign ordinance regarding banners states that one banner is permitted for non-residential uses without a permit.

“There is no time restriction, i.e., the banner could hang permanently,” Douglas wrote in a report to planning commissioners. “For multi-tenant buildings, each tenant could have a banner. This revision proposes to restrict banners to a maximum of three per year; each banner could be displayed for up to 30 days. A permit would be required to facilitate enforcement. Also, banners would now be allowed for non-residential uses in residential zoning districts such as schools and churches.”

The planning commission also discussed proposed changes to residential entrance monument standards to the sign ordinance.

“These monuments were previously guided by an adopted policy, and staff felt that these standards were more appropriately located in the sign ordinance,” Douglas wrote.

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