06-28-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, June 14, 2021 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 9 of 13 21. LA21-000035 – DARRIN ROSHA O/B/O ORONO STATION WEST, 2160 W. WAYZATA BLVD, VARIANCE – Continued Johnson spoke about the lighting of the outside of the canopy, the blue and red strips, and said that does not need to be lit. The name can be lit but the entire ribbon around the outside seems unnecessary. He noted this is the first challenge of the City’s sign code and asked Barnhart if that is correct. Barnhart replied Lund’s and Byerly’s got a variance for their sign when it was rebuilt for a setback issue, and Bridgewater Bank was also probably related to its setback. Johnson said it would be nice – if people are doing reasonable signs – that they do not have to come to the Council. Crosby stated for him it comes down to what they are doing across the City and consistency. He noted Holiday has a blue line lit up around the whole thing to highlight it. If it is consistent he is good with it. Printup agrees it would be nice to have some consistency, but at the same time they must dissect it a bit when it comes into a certain neighborhood. When that was Mr. Bill’s place, it wasn’t a really high commercial area. As opposed to what a nice light and property improvement, there was an old cabin rental dilapidated house in front of it a few years ago. He noted there are improvements to that spot. Printup moved, Crosby seconded, to direct Staff to draft a Resolution of Approval of LA21-000035, Orono Station West, 2160 W. Wayzata Blvd, Variance based on the sign package presented. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0. 22. LA21-000028 - CITY OF ORONO TEXT AMENDMENT RELATED TO SIGN REGULATIONS Barnhart presented a summary packet of information and stated Staff is proposing some amendments to the sign ordinance in part triggered by the review of the previous sign permits. In review of that permit process, several things were identified to be unclear in the sign Code and tried to clarify. The goal is to keep the sign ordinance content-neutral, they cannot regulate signs based on content but most sign ordinances are based on what the sign says. The Planning Commission reviewed this at the previous month’s meeting and recommended some changes to canopy signage in terms of what the face of a canopy is and regulations for that. The concern on the canopy signs was encroaching into residential areas and impacts. They also asked Staff to provide some analysis on what area communities do in terms of their free standing signage to be sure Orono is in the same ballpark which is provided in the packet. Staff recommends some changes to the sign area to be more in line with what the industry is looking for with certain types of signs. Crosby asked if there is anything restricting people from putting up completely offensive signs. Barnhart noted they have a section in their code about offensive language but is not necessarily in the sign Code. He walked the Council through some housekeeping clean up items in the Code and some of the updates in the packet including traffic signs on private roads, signs announcing new neighborhood developments, and the increase for most common commercial areas from a maximum area of 45 square feet to 60 square feet to be in line with what neighboring cities allow.