Text Amendment - Project Re:Code – Proposed Draft Sections: 27-1400 – Signs; 27-1500 – Nonconformities; 27-1800 – Measurements and Definitions This is the fifth meeting of the City Zoning Commission and the fourth meeting of the County Zoning Commission on the Public Review Draft sections of the new Zoning Codes for the City and County. This session will cover Signs, Nonconformities, Measurements and Definitions. The City and County Public Review Drafts are very similar and will be presented together in this hearing. The hearing was originally scheduled for September 16, but a power outage required the hearing to be rescheduled to September 22, 2020.

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The current zoning regulations for the City were adopted on May 3, 1972 and the County zoning codes were adopted on November 6, 1973. The City and County amended and revised their separate zoning regulations several times before the codes were unified in December 1997. The 1972 City zoning regulations for signs referred readers to a separate section of the city code (Section 22). This sign code was adopted in 1959. This was the sign code for the city until 1980 when the sign code was incorporated into the zoning code. The City Code structure was updated in the early 1980s and the sign code was re-numbered to Section 27-700. The County zoning regulations adopted a sign code in the late 1980s and this section has not been amended since that time. In addition, the County sign code was not included in the unification of the city and county zoning codes in 1997. It has been a stand alone county sign code.

Over the past 40 years the city has adopted seven separate sign codes that apply in certain areas. These include:

• Standard Sign Code (27-700)
• Montana Avenue (27-730)
• Medical Corridor and S 27th St Corridor (27-800, 27-900 & 27-706.d)
• Entryway Zone Districts (27-1000)
• North Shiloh Corridor (27-1401)
• South Shiloh Corridor (27-1427)
• East Billings Urban Renewal Districts (27-1800)

In 1983, the City adopted the S 27th St Corridor district that included a performance point system. Signs with less height and sign area were given more points in the performance evaluation for permitting. Later on, the performance point system was eliminated from the S 27th St Corridor and a separate sign code section was amended into the standard sign code.

In 1986, the city created the Medical Corridor zone district that also included a performance based point system for new developments. Extra points were awarded for smaller signs but this eventually was incorporated into the city sign code with the S 27th St Corridor sign requirements. The Medical Corridor sign requirement were extensively amended in 2006 although the S 27th St Corridor sign requirements were left in place.

The Entryway zone districts were created and adopted by the city and county in 1993 and this code section has separate sign requirements. Entryway district sign regulations are similar to the County sign code requirements and can allow a taller and larger sign (40 feet tall and 350 square feet) when the property is adjacent to Interstate right of way. Not all Entryway zone districts are close to the Interstate Corridor including Montana Sapphire Subdivision at Shiloh Road and King Avenue West. Conversely, not all land along the Interstate is within the Entryway zone districts.

A complete re-vamping of the standard city sign code (Sec 27-700) was completed in 1989, but no major changes were adopted in this revision. In 1999, two major changes were made to the city sign code: 1) the addition of the Montana Avenue special sign district and the adoption of the off-premise billboard sign moratorium. The Montana Avenue sign district was a point based permit evaluation system with a specially appointed committee in charge of reviewing new signs along Montana Avenue from N 30th St to N 22nd Street. The sign district encouraged the use of period materials, neon lighting and similar sign standards. The billboard sign moratorium was adopted due to the rapid expansion of billboard signs throughout the city as new arterial streets were constructed along with a major increase in average daily traffic throughout the community. The moratorium does allow new locations if a sign company takes down a non-conforming billboard sign face. The largest billboard sign owner in the city is Lamar. Lamar has accrued over 20 sign face credits over the past 20 years as older Lamar signs are removed. New billboard signs are limited to just a few zone districts and have structure standards to make them more compatible with surrounding land uses. For example, no billboards are allowed on roof tops, the support structure must consist of a single pole and sign faces cannot be stacked.

In 2004 and 2005, the City adopted the North and South Shiloh Corridor Districts that contain separate sign codes. These sign regulations apply to all property within the city limits and within 500 feet of the centerline of Shiloh Road. The Shiloh Overlay District sign standards require lower heights and smaller sign area for new signs. New signs also are required to have an opaque background for internally illuminated signs. Logos, brands and lettering can have light shine through but not the background of a sign. Internally illuminated building fascia is also prohibited. 

In 2008, the city adopted a major amendment to the Standard sign code in reference to electronic signs. This was in response to the advent of LED technology and software that could allow video and animation on signs of all sizes and in all weather conditions. An ad hoc committee was formed to review and update the sign code to include new regulations and standards. The work of the committee took approximately 18 months to complete.

In 2012, the city adopted the EBURD zone districts for the re-development district east of downtown. A separate sign code was adopted for this 400-acre area as well. The EBURD sign code allows between 150 and 200 square feet of signage on a property depending on the type of building on the property.

All of the amendments to the city sign code as well as the improvements in materials and technology have led to challenges with administering the existing sign codes. This includes the lack of definitions, how to measure sign height, sign area, determining the effect of new regulations on the legal status of an existing sign or sign structure and creating difficulty for both sign owners, and sign code administrators.

 

Signs - Draft Code Section 27-1400
The Project Re:Code Steering Committee appointed a Sign Code Working Group in December 2017. The working group consisted of eight members with staff assistance from the Zoning Coordinator, Nicole Cromwell. The group met monthly throughout 2018 and 2019 to discuss, review, draft and re-draft the proposed sign code. The Working Group adopted four goals:

• Context is crucial – not just the street, but the type of traffic, the adjacent land uses and other context considerations.
• Clarity – make sure the code is orderly, using clear language and definitions.
• Consolidation – try to incorporate the best qualities of each sign code within the framework of any new draft sign code.
• Content Neutrality and other Legal Issues – make sure known legal issues get addressed and content neutrality is maintained throughout the code.

Most sign codes are aimed at regulating primarily commercial sign messages. Since sign codes regulate "public speech" these codes are subject to the strict scrutiny of the constitutional right to free speech. In 2015, a landmark US Supreme Court Case (Reed v Town of Gilbert, AZ) determined that local sign codes must be absolutely "content neutral". The court decided that if the regulator had to read the sign to know if it was allowed or not, then the sign code was not compliant with the constitutional protection of free speech. Cities and towns are allowed to regulate signs but content neutral regulations are required. The current city and county sign codes do have sections that do not meet this neutrality requirement. The Public Review Draft was created with this legal requirement at the forefront of the drafting effort.

The draft code also uses graphics and tables to clearly and concisely illustrate the types of signs, where they are allowed, the area of signage allowed and other limitations. The current codes have few illustrations or charts. The current combined sign code sections of the city total over 120 pages of text. Consolidating the codes included a review of the existing provisions and then incorporating the best qualities of each in the new code. The new city sign code includes 55 pages of text and graphics and the county draft code is slimmer at 50 pages. The draft eliminates the special sign districts of Montana Avenue, North and South Shiloh Corridor, S 27th St Corridor, Medical Corridor and EBURD. The city draft sign code lists allowed signs by zone district and keeps the existing billboard moratorium in place.

The city draft code includes a section for all the Historic Districts approved by city including the Billings Townsite (Montana Avenue), Old Town ( Minnesota Avenue) and North Elevation (N 31st to N 32nd north of 9th Ave N) districts. This code section will allow signs in keeping with the historic nature of the districts without additional permitting requirements.

Temporary signs are regulated by sign type rather than sign purpose. For example, temporary sign types include balloon signs, banners, inflatable signs, and yard signs. Each is allowed for a certain period of time by zone district and at a maximum size. There are some temporary signs that are tied to events as well.

Normalizing the way signs are measured for sign area, height, clearance from the bottom of the sign to the ground, setbacks are all important parts of the new sign code. Draft code Section 27-1404 covers all of these elements in one place. The definitions specific to signs were reviewed as part of the code drafting but were integrated into Section 27-1800 (Measurements and Definitions).

The Working Group has proposed to handle nonconforming signs in two categories: major and minor nonconforming.
A major nonconforming sign is classified as follows (Section 27-1403.B.1):
Electronic message signs will continue to be regulated in much the same manner as the existing code with owners and managers required to acknowledge in writing the operational limitations for EMDs in the sign code. No video greater than 29 frames per second will be allowed on EMDs. The draft code also will prohibit EMD signs in the Neighborhood Office, Neighborhood Mixed Use, all residential zones, historic districts and Public 1 zone districts. The proposed code also proposes to allow "static message" EMD signs in most zone district but not the full animated display EMD. The draft code proposes to only allow the full animated EMD displays in the CBD and Downtown Support (DX) zone districts. In addition, where animated EMDs are allowed, they must be separated from a residential district by at least 100 feet.

Nonconformities - Draft Code Section 27-1500
Whenever a major change occurs to a land use regulation, certain existing uses or structures may become nonconforming to the new code requirements. The proposed draft code is no different in this respect than previous amendments to the zoning regulations. The Steering Committee, Working Groups, staff and consultants considered the impact of each code change to existing development. Adjustments and revisions were made whenever a proposed regulation would create many nonconformities.

A legal nonconforming status of property carries a significant burden to the property owner. It is difficult to finance and insure a legal nonconforming property and these properties are harder to sell to new owners. These are "high risk" properties for banks and underwriters. Sometimes a legal nonconforming property experiences significant neglect of property maintenance and upgrades because of the high risk of such an investment by the owner. Dis-investment is a common problem for legal nonconforming properties.

Any property developed and existing in conformance with the current code, that becomes nonconforming under the proposed code has legal nonconforming status and is protected from compliance with the new code unless the use or structure is abandoned or destroyed. The existing code section on Nonconformities (Section 27-400) and its provisions are not changed in any significant manner in the proposed code. The draft code does have more emphasis on site development characteristics - doors, windows, roof pitch, percent of front facade with garage openings. The draft code section acknowledges these separate issues that may create a nonconformity. Both landscaping and off-street parking are site characteristics dealt with in the Proportionate Compliance section of the code but may also be considered a nonconforming site characteristic in this code section.

There are large categories of nonconformities under the existing code that will be remedied with this proposed new zoning code including:

• minimum lot area requirements;
• maximum lot coverage limitations;
• formulaic standards for detached garages; and
• minimum front setbacks.

The new code and updates to the Zoning map were done to help normalize the zone districts to the existing and established uses in neighborhoods. Certain types of uses within neighborhoods such as auto body and auto repair shops will remain as nonconforming uses in the zoning code update. Other types of neighborhood services such as small food establishments, coin-op laundries, hair salons, and small retailers currently zoned as "residential" will be updated to eliminate the nonconforming status of their use.

Measurements and Definitions - Draft Code Section 27-1800
Throughout the presentations on the draft zoning code, the measurements and definitions of terms were discussed in relation to the code content under review. All of these terms and the definitions are consolidated in the new code in this draft Section 27-1800.

The current zoning code does not have a comprehensive section on how to measure signs, setbacks, building height, roof lines, window and door openings and similar requirements. The current code also has sections with internal definitions not found anywhere else in the zoning code. This is a code deficit and makes the regulations difficult to read and interpret. The proposed new code has collected all the terms needing definition into one code section and includes a section on measurement of building or land elements described in the code. The advent of on-line publication of city codes requires the easy link to one code section for all definitions used in the zoning regulations. 

This section also includes the clear vision requirements for intersections of streets, alleys and driveways. The City Engineering Division assisted with updated drawings for this section and now the drawings and regulations are together in one code section.

It is not an exaggeration to state the code section on Definitions is the foundation of the zoning code and where many hours are spent reviewing, revising and making sure the definition is correct. There is always the problem of attempting to draft a regulation into a definition - and vice versa. Clear, concise and plain language is important throughout the definition section. Where words are insufficient, illustrations are required. Throughout the work by the Steering Committee and Working Groups, terms and definitions were discussed and added to this final section of the draft zoning codes.
 

Staff recommends the Zoning Commissions review the code sections and hold a public hearing. No action is required at this time.