Planning Commission Minutes 2019 04 11

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 11, 2019 Page 7 of 10 • Freestanding signs — reduce minimum building size to get the larger size Brauneis observed that he thought teardrop banners were cheap and easy to use for businesses so they should not be outright banned. Howe stated that there was some benefit to the teardrop banners for people who are driving and can give businesses the opportunity to advertise in non -pedestrian areas. Hoefner voiced a concern about high winds and the teardrop banners. Moline asked for staff's rationale for not allowing teardrop banners. Zuccaro replied that he did not think the teardrop banners were considered high -quality sign types, but on a very limited basis they could be okay. Brauneis asked if the 30-day grand opening counted as a "limited basis." Ritchie noted that there were some areas that had high turnover and would have these signs more often. Rice liked the definition section and suggested adding "raceway" and "way -finding" to the list. Moline suggested that in the non -conforming signage language should regulate based on the area of the sign rather than the cost of the sign as a trigger. Brauneis stated that the update to the Downtown Sign Guidelines a few years ago was meant to foster creativity and that encouraging creativity was a good idea when possible. He did not want signs to look the same here as they do everywhere else. Moline stated that the graphics in the staff packet and the way the Code was laid out was user-friendly for laypeople in the community. Ritchie responded to Commissioner Moline's emailed question, explaining that sign area was calculated using one viewpoint. So for a multidimensional sign where you could view multiple sides at once, whatever the largest surface area was visible from one point, that all counted toward your surface area. Ritchie also addressed Commissioner Moline's other question about the language "enforced by city manager" and stated that that was typical language for enforcement. Howe asked if there were exceptions for entry points to the city. Zuccaro replied that the sign code would not address those issues. The consultant for the Small Area Plans designed entry signs for those plans but they had not been formally adopted or approved.