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Sign Ordinance Revision• • June 20, 1984 To: Planning & Zoning Commission From: Nancy Anderson Subject: Sign Ordinance Revision Following the directions by the Commission, other city ordinance were reviewed to determine the square footage that other cities allow for a single sign. The area allowed ranged from 40 square feet to 100 square feet. The changes sug- gested in ordinance 427.42(18) reflect smaller square footage for a single sign and smaller total area for all signs. B -1 and B -2, Permitted type of sign - name plate signs, business sign, Maximum area of a single sign - 60 square feet nor shall 2 or more smaller signs be so arranged and integrated to cause a sign size greater than 60 square feet, Total area of all signs - 2 square feet per front foot of building, abutting a public right -of -way 50 feet or more width. B -3 Permitted Type of Sign - Name plate signs, business signs, Maximum Area of Single Sign 80 square feet nor shall 2 or more smaller signs be so arranged and integrated to cause a sign size greater than 80 square feet, but a name plate sign shall not exceed 50% of authorized aggregate square footage of advertising sign space for such lot, Total Area of all signs - 3 square feet per front foot of building (narrowest frontage on a corner lot) abutting a public right -of -way of 50 feet or more in width. B -2 and B -3 Permitted type of sign - Name plate or business signs at the building when abutting public parking, or is across public alley parking area, total area of all signs - 50% of total square footage in B -2 and B -3 districts. Example 1023 Excelsior Avenue Thorp Financial Services B -2 District Bucks Furniture Boston Subway Amount of total area allowed for front and side 399.6 (front 133.2 x 3) 130.0 side 130 529.6 square feet allowed for front and side signs Amount of total area for rear signage 264.8 sq. ft. 529.6 : 2 With change's 266.4 (133.2 x 2) total square feet allowed for front and side. No single sign can be over 60 square feet. the rear of from such authorized 133.2 (266.4 = 2) total square feet allowed for rear of building abutting public parking lot. 1 • Example: 724 West Excelsior Avenue Plastermaster B -3 District Amount of total area allowed for front and side 199.44 front (49.86 x 4) 124 side 124 323.44 square feet allowed for front and side Signs Amount of total area for rear signage 323.44 : 2 = 161.72 With changes 149.58 (49.86 x 3) total square footage allowed for front and side. No single sign can be over 80 square feet. 74.79 (149.58 : 2) total square feet allowed for rear of building abutting public parking lot Q- 3 +a& cuw 4 f;t - �OCA lob - char to -�ro-n+ Too+ � b u 1 d n 3 fo 1 fie' - fi o�w c� 5� cl�,, U a.rd IY)o,X s ' 9 n 9'0 Squa e. Ghavl to of �ed PQ ` �T � 60 IC+ i R - "r ows - "r ows -ft) ��r Q - rtoX Ct u0 Si dQ r Cj Ya M st9 n Co sq L )cuu • • May 24, 1984 POSSIBLE REVISED LANGUAGE REGARDING SIGNS 427.42 (7) Temporary signs temporary signs, banners, pennants, and portable signs (excluding political, real estate, and For Rent signs) shall not be erected or placed without a sign permit from the City of Hopkins. Such permits may be issued for a maximum of 30 days per year (30 days are up to the discretion of the applicant) C,+y [;e- der 4-,1 , ;.., (17)Removal of signs on- premises signs shall be removed from the building and property by the owner of such property within 14 days after the use is term- inated. Billboards shall be removed within 14 days after discon- tinuation of use of the sign for advertising purposes, as indicated by removal of the advertising message or termination of the business so advertised. (18) Non - conforming signs (a)any non - conforming temporary or portable sign existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance shall be made to comply with the re- quirements set forth herein or shall be removed within 30 days after the adoption of this ordinance, • (b)permanent signs lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance and not conforming to its provisions, but which did con- form to previous laws shall be regarded as non - conforming signs which may be continued if properly repaired and maintained as pro- vided in this ordinance and if in conformance with other ordinances of the city. All non - conforming signs shall not be rebuilt, altered or relocated without being brought into compliance with the require- ments of this ordinance. Mall non - conforming prohibited signs lawfully existing at the time of adoption of this ordinance shall be allowed to continue in use for a period of not more than two years from the date of adoption. (d')whenever use of a non - conforming sign has been discontinued for a period of six months, such use shall thereafter *e unless conformance with the provisions of this ordinance 409.60 Billboards (a) billboards are prohibited within 500 feet of all public parks, rest areas, or residential structures, measured laterally along the roadway and 200 feet in any other direction. If a residential structure is constructed on residential property within these dis- tances, the sign shall be removed within three years. . (b) billboards shall not be erected closer than 1000 feet to another sign on the same side of the same street; within 100 feet of a building, other than a residential structure or within 100 feet of an on- premises sign. If such a building is constructed within 100 feet of an existing billboard, such sign shall be removed within three years. 0 (c) billboards may not be located closer than 250 feet from a residential district. Definitions Temporary sign - shall mean any sign, banner, pennant, valance or advertising device, placed on any building, structure or land and advertising an event or a situation and placed on any lot or parcel of land to which the attention is to be directed for a period not exceeding thirty days of any calendar year. Portable sign - a sign constructed to be movable from one location to another and not permanently attached to the ground or to any immobile structure. Such sign may consist of a mobil ructure such as a semitrailer, carriage, van, sled or other device whose primary function during a specific time is to serve as a sign. 409.50 Subd 2. In all zoning districts except B -2, no sign which is erected or maintained flat against any building or structure in said location shall extend or pro- ject more than fifteen inches over the sidewalk, street, or highway. In a B -2 District overhanging signs are permitted at horizontal intervals along the front property line of not less than twenty -five feet (25'0 "). Over- hanging signs should be no greater dimension than eighteen inches wide by sixteen inches high(18x16x2), shall extend no more than twenty -four inches (24 ") from property line and shall be mounted no lower than eight feet (8'0 ") from the sidewalk. • • June 20, 1984 To: Zoning and Planning Commission From: Richard V. Hill, Sign Iinspections Subject: Signs The following questions have arisen about the proposed changes in the sign ordinance. 1. The need for a section in the Zoning Ordinance for the removal of signs on vacant buildings was questioned. The reasons for such a section are as follows: a) there are signs on buildings and poles now that have been there for over a year and have not become rotten and unsafe so that they could be taken down. Example: The Waterbed Gallery at 317 W. Excelsior Avenue has signs up at present - the business has been gone over a year and also the Hopkins Fun Center that was behind the old Hopkins House Liquors (which changed to M.G.M. recently and how lays vacant) still had a sign up until last year - the business has been gone for years. The M.G.M. Liquor sign has turned into a billboard (off premise sign) where it stands now on the property east of their present location. b) another reason was to have owners remove signs so that new tenants would not keep using the old signs which are usually made of plywood or painted on walls or of such materials that are distracting but not rotten or unsafe. That way we could help the mainstreet group in their quest to make businesses conform to their program much easier. c) the sections 409.30 and 409.40 of the City Ordinances about removal of rotten and unsafe signs is not adequate to solve these problems. In my letter of February 9, 1984, I made mention of the problems with size of signs in the 6 -2 and 6 -3 zones. This should be looked at. Another thing that came to mind is that our sign ordinance is too spread out, we have part i'n 409 of the City Ordinance and another in 427.41 of the Zoning Ordinance. You may want to look at combining these together. • . February 9, 1984 To: Zoning and Planning Commission From: Richard V. Hill, Sign Inspections Subject: Signs The following items are problems I have come up against in the sign ordinance: A) Temporary Signs: Banners, pennants and temporary direction signs are allowed for grandopenings, special events and holidays not to exceed 30 days for twice a year (427.42(7)) but they do not require a permit (427.42(16)). That makes them harder to control when a permit with date limitations are not there as is the. case with the portable signs, which require a special permit before placement in the City of Hopkins. (Ord. No. 82 -51A). A problem I have found with some of the portable signs is poor construction in the four legged reader board sign as compared to the wheeled reader boards even when chained to a perman- ent structure. There also is a problem with a few liquor stores in town who besides wanting paper signs all over their windows decide that they also want them attached to their walls by tapping or nailing to wood of their buildings, one day they're up the next they're down. B) Signs on Vacant Buildings: Renters tend to leave their signs on buildings after they leave, and owners of the buildings tend to take their time removing them. C) Non - conforming signs: It has been the implied policy that signs which are in violation of the sign ordinance before its' inactment are pro- tected by the unwritten grandfather clause when the ordinance is en- forcable, leaving non - conforming signs all over the city. The fol- lowing are just a few examples of this: Signs with flashing lights (427.42, 4(a)): Embers, Lindees, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Clark Gas Station. Signs over 250 sq. ft. or too many signs for required signage: Furni- ture Gallery - 408 Excelsior Avenue East sign painted on entire roof west side of building, also has sign mounted on pole of overhang pro- jecting into street. Hopkins car wash across from Burger King, sign painted on side of building. Suburban Chevrolet - billboard on 5th Avenue & Excelsior Avenue. Clark Station on 17th Avenue & Excelsior, etc. (D) Billboards: Although only a recent problem, it seems that we.only re- strict signs of 250 sq. ft. size from R districts and the B -1 district. • We also do not have any provisions for the distrance such signs should be from R districts or residential structures. Also the ordinance that was talked about at one of the past meetings was to prevent numerous billboards on railroad right -of -ways (Ord. No. 72 -364 (Sec. 269.50 Sub.l (e)) was repealed in March 1977 with the enactment of Ordinance No. 77 -427. V V • February 9, 1984 Signs Page 2 All of the above are some of the problems run into through the course of the year. Here are just a few ways to solve some of these problems: 1) In regards to banners and similar temporary signs, the words in 427.42(16) which are dealing with what sign needs a permit and I quote "except those signs which are to be in existence for 30 days or less ". If these words were removed and another phrase to only exclude Political, Real Estate and For Rent signs, would make construction, banners and similar temporary signs need permits thus enforcement on banners and paper stuck to buildings much easier. You may also not want to allow portable signs in the city limits due to the numerous problems of movement of them on evenings and weekends. • 2) Regarding signs on vacant buildings: If the statement was added some where in the sign ordinance that such signs would have to be removed by the property owner in 30 days, should help the problem of getting these signs down. 3) Dealing with non - conforming signs you may want to state that all signs non- conforming at date of ordinance shall be removed in a certain amount of time. 4) Billboards: There should be more restrictions to where the billboards can be placed. Like no off premise signs allowed in any B district and not be closer than so many hundred feet from an R district and more from a Residen- tial structure, somehwat like the Maplewood ordinance. Also you may want to bring back the ordinance 72 -364 Sec. 269.5 Subd 1 (p) in the same way or slightly changed. 5) One more thing which I will be bringing up to the Council at the same time you bring up any changes to the sign ordinance is a change in the way we charge for sign permits. At present we are basing it on the cost of the whole sign (sign and structure). I would like to see it changed to be basing it on the size of the sign for all signs which many of our surrounding communities have already gone to. These are just some of the courses you might want to follow if you want to change our sign ordinance to stop some of the problems that have arisen in our city. We are not alone in these problems and I am looking at other cities to see how they have solved theirs.