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To: Chair Thiesse and Planning Commission Members <br />Dustin Rief, City Administrator <br />From: Jeremy Barnhart, Community Development Director <br />Date: August 20, 2018 <br />Subject: #LA18-000059, City of Orono, Text Amendment related to Sign regulations. <br />Public Hearing <br />Application Summary: The draft ordinance would delete and replace all of the sign regulations <br />within the city code. The ordinance is intended to remove sign regulations based on what the <br />sign says, which is free speech concern. Other goals include clarifying the regulations. <br />Staff Recommendation: Hold a public hearing, approve the document as presented. <br />Background <br />Sign regulations must be content neutral; regulations must apply based on the time, place, or <br />manner of the speech, rather than content. Our existing ordinance includes many references to <br />the content of the sign. <br />The draft ordinance was developed by the City Attorney's office. This draft is offered to gather <br />preliminary feedback prior to finalizing the document for adoption later this summer. <br />A couple of notable sections: <br />1. The draft continues to prohibit pole signs, where free standing signs are allowed, they <br />must be monument style. <br />2. The draft retains the 4 temporary sign permits annually. <br />3. The new regulations introduces a sign standard table (Table 1). This table is central to <br />the "content neutral" goals of this ordinance. All signs in the various districts are <br />regulated the same manner. <br />4. Table 1 on page 11 includes 5 districts. The District 4 correlates to the B-3 zoning <br />district (Lunds Byerlys) and attempts to incorporate existing signage, ie not creating a <br />nonconforming situation. An attempt to tailor Sign regulations in the other commercial <br />districts to prevent non -conforming situations was made. <br />5. The draft allows up to 35% of changeable copy, either electric or manual. <br />6. The draft does not require a permit to change the face (text) of a sign. <br />Public Comments <br />To date, no public comments have been received. <br />List of Exhibits <br />Exhibit A. Draft Sign Ordinance <br />