03-24-24 EDC Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION – FEBRUARY 28, 2024 4 they could have per square foot; he felt it should be based on how many acres a business had, or how many entrances there are. Senior Planner Fransen said currently the size of the sign area is a factor of the sign copy area. There is a range within the districts from 25 square feet to 100 square feet. Commissioner Bonine felt they should maybe consider other factors. He didn’t think limiting the size of a sign because of arbitrary copy space was good and does not align with businesses the City might want to attract. There are a lot of unique businesses that may have different needs. He felt they needed to be more flexible but consistent. Right now, the code seems limiting. Commissioner Murchie agreed. He described that if the sign is too small, then people will have to squint and might miss the information. He thought in some of the districts it made more sense to have more flexibility. He agreed with relaxing it to be more consistent. Senior Planner Fransen asked if anyone had comments on sign copy area and height. Commissioner Bonine asked if there was a specific goal the Council was trying to achieve. Council Liaison Rousseau wasn’t aware of a specific goal. She thought the reason this came up was because there were many times people have gone to the Planning Commission and had to request sign standard adjustments. She thought there was some modernization that needed to occur. Her priority would be the impact on residential areas versus non-residential areas. Commissioner Bonine thought if they were looking at zones that weren’t impacting residential that having consistency across those zones would make sense, but it might require a field trip to understand why there are certain regulations set. He thought they might want to bring up the maximum sign copy area to match neighboring cities. In his experience the copy area didn’t make sense for his building. He felt it made sense to have the same size sign allowed at all entrances of a building. Commissioner Murchie wondered if it would be possible for businesses on one side of the street be able to have similar signage as businesses on the other side of the street that are in a different city. Senior Planner Fransen explained the Shoreview code was based on the size of the building so a comparison could be challenging. Commissioner Bonine felt that basing signs on building square footage made sense. This could be better than basing it on the size of the lot. Senior Planner Fransen said she could work with other cities to gather examples and make some comparisons with neighboring cities. Staff will work on consolidating the feedback from the meeting to provide a summary to the EDC at a future meeting. B. Twin Cities North Chamber Conversation John Connelly, President of the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce, said as a footnote to their discussion about signs, Columbia Heights had discussions about their ordinances about six