As per Unified Development Code Section 21.4.7, City Council from time to time, or on its own motion, or at the recommendation of City Staff make amendments, change or modify any portion of the UDC to establish and maintain sound and stable development.

At the November 12, 2024 City Council Workshop Meeting, the Planning Division gave a presentation / workshop regarding updating the Ordinance for blowup signs and flags for advertising. As a follow-up, the Planning Division gave an additional workshop / presentation at the November 19, 2024 City Council meeting to discuss proposed amendments to UDC Article 11, Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs. Both of these workshop / discussions can be reviewed via YouTube. Based on these two workshops, it was discussed that the current regulations for temporary signs should be modified to increase the maximum height and maximum area in order to allow greater flexibility (larger signage regardless of the property location and adjacent roadway classification) for businesses / customers to utilize temporary signs. In addition the Unified Development Code should explicitly prohibit wind driven signs such as feather flag signs and inflatable signs. 

Proposed Amendments
Staff is proposing modifications to the following UDC Article Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs: 

Article	UDC Section	Current UDC	Proposed Amendment
11	21.11.6 Prohibited Signs	Currently, the UDC does not directly prohibit wind driven signs / feather flags / inflatable / balloon signs.	Wind driven signs including feather flags and inflatable / balloon sign are prohibited regardless of size.
11	21.11.17.B Maximum Area	Areas with Limited Access:  32 sq. ft. per face or ten percent (10%) of the building façade, whichever is less Areas with Unlimited Access:  24 sq. ft. per face or seven percent (7%) of the building façade, whichever is less All Other Streets:  16 sq. ft. per face or five percent (5%) of the building façade, whichever is less	Thirty Six Square Feet (36 sq.ft.)
11	21.11.17.C Maximum Height	Areas with Limited Access: 6 feet Areas with Unlimited Access: 4 feet All Other Streets: 3 feet	Six feet (6ft.)

To amend the Unified Development Code Article 11, Section 21.11.6 Prohibited Signs to explicitly state that wind driven signs including feather flags and inflatable / balloon sign are prohibited regardless of size and Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs to increase the maximum area and maximum height for temporary signage. 

It is the City’s desire to promote safe, orderly, efficient development and ensure compliance with the City’s vision of future growth.

When staff evaluates Unified Development Code Amendments, they use section 21.4.7.D Criteria for approval. The criteria are listed below.

1. The proposed amendment promotes the health, safety, or general welfare of the City and the safe, orderly, efficient, and healthful development of the City.
The City Council requests and staff proposes UDC amendments from time to time to proactively better the Unified Development Code that governs development within the City of Schertz. The proposed amendments allow greater flexibility / larger temporary signs regardless of where the business location is and the associated roadway classification. By increasing the maximum height and maximum area for temporary signage it promotes orderly and efficient development. With the proposed amendments, businesses will still be required to obtain a temporary sign permit which also ensures orderly development of the City. Additionally, by providing clarity on prohibited signs it will ensure consistency and efficiency with the sign permitting process throughout the City.

2. An amendment to the text is consistent with other policies of this UDC and the City;
The proposed amendments are consistent with the goals and desires of the City Council as discussed at the November 19, 2024 City Council workshop. Additionally, increasing the maximum height and maximum area allows greater flexibility, which is consistent with other UDC Amendments that have been approved. Recent UDC amendments have been made to add clarity on requirements and desires of the City Council. By creating a UDC amendment that clearly prohibits feather flags and inflatable signage, it is more clear for business owners and applicants on what is allowed as a temporary sign in the City of Schertz. 

3. Any proposed amendment is consistent with the goals and objectives of this UDC and the City; and
The Operational Values of the City include being proactive and service-oriented. By creating the proposed UDC amendment, it proactively will allow businesses to have larger temporary signs and to have consistent height and area maximums for all businesses regardless of the property location. 

4. Other criteria which, at the discretion of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council are deemed relevant and important in the consideration of the amendment.
Staff has ensured all UDC requirements have been met for the proposed Unified Development Code Amendments. The City Council Workshops at the November 12th and November 19th City Council meetings should be reviewed as it provides additional information as to the insight of why these UDC Amendments have been requested and proposed. 

Based on the City Council Workshops that took place on November 12th and November 19th, there is the desire to modify the Temporary Sign maximum height and maximum area to allow for increased sign size for Temporary Signs. The proposed UDC amendment will allow greater flexibility for businesses that would like to utilize temporary signs. Staff recommends approval of PLUDC20240298, amendment to Part III of the Schertz Code of Ordinances, Unified Development Code (UDC), Article 11, Section 21.11.6 Prohibited Signs and Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs based on directive from City Council at the November 19th City Council Workshop.