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Agenda No. 13.
CITY COUNCIL MEMORANDUM
| City Council Meeting: |
February 4, 2025 |
| Department: |
Planning & Community Development |
| Subject: |
Ordinance 25-S-004 - Consider amendments to Part III of the Schertz Code of Ordinances, Unified Development Code (UDC), to Article 11, Section 21.11.6 Prohibited Signs and Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs (B.James/L.Wood/E.Delgado) |
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| BACKGROUND |
Background from January 7, 2025 City Council meeting:
At the January 7, 2025 City Council meeting staff gave a presentation and made a recommendation on Unified Development Code Amendments for Article 11, Section 21.11.6 Prohibited Signs to explicitly state that wind driven signs including feather flags and inflatable / balloon signs are prohibited regardless of size. Staff also recommended amending Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs to increase the maximum area and maximum height for temporary signage to 36 square feet and 6 feet in height on all types of streets. However, during the discussion, City Council indicated that the proposed amendment language was not desired as written. The explicit prohibition of wind driven signs to include feather flags was not the previous intention. During the January 7th discussion, City Council confirmed the desire to prohibit inflatable / balloon signs, but there was a desire to allow feather flags in some capacity. Based on the discussion, City Council ultimately tabled the item in order for staff to provide changes to the proposed UDC amendment language.
City staff has created an updated draft UDC Amendment language outlined below that will be discussed at the February 4, 2025 meeting in order to have City Council evaluate and modify. From that discussion, staff will finalize the UDC Amendment for action.
Proposed Amendments
Staff is proposing modifications to the following UDC Article 11, Section 21.11.6 Prohibited Signs and UDC Article 11, Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs based on the discussion had at the January 7th City Council meeting:
| Article |
UDC Section |
Current UDC |
Proposed Amendment |
| 11 |
21.11.6 Prohibited Signs |
Currently, the UDC does not directly prohibit inflatable / balloon signs. |
Balloon Signs including inflatable signs are prohibited regardless of size. Feather Flags are the only type of wind driven signs allowed. |
| 11 |
21.11.17.B Maximum Area |
Areas with Limited Access:
32 sq.ft. per face or ten percent (10%) of the building facade, whichever is less
Areas with Unlimited Access:
24 sq.ft. per face or seven percent (7%) of the building facade, whichever is less
All Other Streets:
16 sq.ft. per face or five percent (5%) of the building facade, whichever is less |
Twenty Four Square Feet (24 sq.ft.) except that feather flags are limited to Sixteen Square Feet (16 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 |
Four Feet (4ft.) except that feather flags are limited to Eight Feet (8') |
Staff is proposing to treat feather flags as temporary signs. Feather flags are the only type of wind driven sign allowed. Feather flags can be four feet taller (8' vs 4') but have less area (16 sq ft vs 24 sq ft). Each business/tenant can have no more than 3 temporary signs up at one time (can be all feather flags or freestanding or a combination 2 of one and 1 of the other). The total number of days they can have temporary signs up is 120 and that is cumulative. So they can have one sign up for 120 days or 3 signs up for 40 days or some combination of that. Temporary signs will be issued for 30 day increments, except that it can be shortened if they hit their maximum time. For example, they can have 3 temporary signs up for 30 days and then one sign up for 30 days. We will also issue a "recurring event permit" that is issued in two day increments for up to 15 times per year. The applicant must identify which 15 two day increments they want when applying for the initial permit (these can be adjusted as dates change).
In summary businesses would be able to have feather flags, but not inflatable signs. They can have up to 3 temporary signs up at any one time, but they can only have 120 instances of temporary signs. There is also the provision for short recurring event temporary signs. The idea is to create a consistent framework to limit complexity and confusion.
Staff is requesting that at the February 4th City Council meeting that feedback and direction can be provided if this proposal or some variation of it is desirable.
Additionally, in light of the extensive conversation on temporary signs and feedback received, staff has started drafting a full UDC Article 11 Signs rewrite. The goal of this rewrite will be to have sign regulations that are more easily understood, and to ensure that the signs that are being permitted are desired by City Council. In light of this upcoming UDC Amendment for Article 11, which staff anticipates having to the City Council in April, staff is requesting that no formal action be taken on Ordinance 25-S-004. Rather than adopting a small change in Article 11 and then in the upcoming couple of months making a full Article 11 rewrite, it seems more appropriate to provide direction on Temporary Signs using this ordinance presentation, not take action on the Ordinance itself and then the desired changes for Temporary Signs will be incorporated into the overall Article 11 rewrite.
Previous Background from the January 7, 2025 City Council meeting:
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 can recommend 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 workshops / 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.
The Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing and made a recommendation of approval at the December 4, 2024, Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. A Public Hearing notice was published in the San Antonio Express on December 18th for the Public Hearing at the January 7, 2025, City Council meeting.
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| GOAL |
| To receive direction on the proposed amendments to the Unified Development Code Article 11, Section 21.11.6 Prohibited Signs to explicitly state that inflatable / balloon signs are prohibited regardless of size and Section 21.11.17 Temporary Signs to increase the maximum area and maximum height for temporary signage and to modify the requirements for feather flags. |
| COMMUNITY BENEFIT |
| It is the City’s desire to promote safe, orderly, efficient development and ensure compliance with the City’s vision of future growth. |
| SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION |
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, and general welfare 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. The proposed amendment is consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the 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 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. The proposed amendment corrects an error, meets the challenge of changing conditions, or is in response to changes in state law; and
The proposed amendments will meet the changing conditions / desires of the City Council in relation to allowing larger temporary signs. Additionally, the amendment adds clarity on temporary signs that are not desired and more clearly prohibits the use of inflatable signs. The Operational Values of the City include being proactive and service-oriented. By implementing the proposed UDC amendment, it will proactively 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 factors which 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, as well as the January 7, 2025 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. |
| RECOMMENDATION |
Staff Recommendation
As previously stated in this City Council report staff is requesting that at the February 4th City Council meeting that feedback and direction be provided about whether the proposed changes are desirable. Staff is requesting that no formal action be taken on Ordinance 25-S-004 but rather include these changes into the full rewrite of Article 11 that will be brought to the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council in the next couple of months.
Planning and Zoning Commission Recommendation
The Planning and Zoning Commission met on December 4, 2024, held a public hearing, and made a recommendation of approval to City Council with a 6-0 vote. The UDC Amendment that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended included the following UDC Amendment language which differs from what is proposed with this UDC Amendment.
- Prohibit wind driven signs including feather flags and inflatable / balloon signs
- Increase maximum area to 36 square feet
- Increase maximum height to 6 feet
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