Planning Commission Staff Report
Report Prepared by: Julie Nelson, Acting Planning Manager, Development Services
Title
SUBJECT: Sign/Zoning Ordinance Amendment #23-04, initiated by the City of Merced. This application involves repealing Chapter 17.36 - Signs from the Merced Municipal Code and replacing Chapter 20.62 - Signs in its entirety with a comprehensive update to the ordinance that would place all sign regulations in one chapter, bring the Sign Ordinance into compliance with recent court rulings, and make the sign requirements consistent throughout the City. The new ordinance would include new definitions, new regulations for sign area, temporary signs, digital/LED signs, signs in the public right-of-way, billboards, regional signs, freeway signs, and various other sign regulations. The proposed sign ordinance would categorize signs into four main types: permanent building signs, permanent freestanding signs, temporary building signs, and temporary freestanding signs. Each type of sign would be regulated by quantity, size, shape, type of illumination and location. **PUBLIC HEARING**]
ACTION: PLANNING COMMISSION:
Recommendation to City Council
1) Environmental Review #23-27 (Categorical Exemption)
2) Sign/Zoning Ordinance Amendment #23-04
CITY COUNCIL:
Approve/Disapprove/Modify
1) Environmental Review #23-27 (Categorical Exemption)
2) Sign/Zoning Ordinance Amendment #23-04
SUMMARY
The proposed ordinance amendment is a comprehensive update of the Sign Ordinance which includes repealing the existing Sign Ordinance in Chapter 17.36-Signs of the Merced Municipal Code (MMC) and adding new sections to Chapter 20.62-Signs. This update is intended to make the Sign Ordinance less confusing and easier to interpret as well as bringing the ordinance into compliance with recent Supreme Court rulings.
RECOMMENDATION
Planning staff recommends that the Planning Commission recommend approval to the City Council of Environmental Review #23-27 (Categorical Exemption) and Zoning Ordinance Amendment #23-04 subject to the findings/considerations in Exhibit A and as described in the Draft Ordinance at Exhibit B of the Draft Resolution at Attachment A of Planning Commission Staff Report #23-730.
Body
DISCUSSION
Project Description
The current Ordinance is divided into different sections in MMC Chapter 17.36- Signs with different regulations for North Merced, the Downtown Design Review Area, and General Regulations. Additionally, there are sign regulations found in MMC Chapter 20.62 which have additional regulations for different commercial zoning districts. The current Sign Ordinance is confusing and difficult to interpret. Additionally, a recent Supreme Court ruling determined that sign ordinances must not violate the provisions of the First Amendments Free Speech clause. Governments can’t regulate the content of speech, including signs that contain speech, but they can regulate the time, place, and manner of that speech.
The proposed Sign Ordinance would eliminate the regulations in Chapter 17.36 - Signs and centralize all the sign regulations in Chapter 20.62.
Because the proposed ordinance is a comprehensive update to the current ordinance, many existing signs throughout the City would not comply with the new ordinance. However, the proposed ordinance addresses this issue by allowing existing signs that comply with the existing code to be “grandfathered” into the new sign standards by being considered legally non-conforming signs. This means the signs were once legal, but with this change would no longer be legal. Under this provision, existing signs that were legally installed could remain until such time as a significant change to the sign is proposed.
Background
As briefly described above, the City of Merced’s current regulations regarding signage can be found in two locations: 1) Section 17.36 under Title 17 (Buildings and Construction) of the Merced Municipal Code, which is subdivided into four sections; and, 2) Chapter 20.62 (Signs) of the City’s Zoning Ordinance (Title 20 of the Merced Municipal Code). Section 17.36, which is more commonly known as the Sign Ordinance, is subdivided into four major sections: 1) Article I-Definitions; 2) Article II-General Regulations; 3) Article III-Regulations for North Merced; and, 4) Article IV-Regulations for Downtown.
The City completed a comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Update in 2016. Under the previous Zoning Ordinance, regulations regarding signage were spread throughout the Zoning Code in addition to those within the Sign Ordinance (Section 17.36). Under the new Zoning Code, all the sign regulations within the Zoning Code were consolidated and reformatted into Chapter 20.62, but the regulations themselves did not change.
As mentioned above, the Sign Ordinance contains general regulations and definitions which apply to all areas of the City, but there are specific regulations that apply only to North Merced (north of Bear Creek) and the Downtown (which generally covers an area from 19th to 14th Streets and Bear Creek to Highway 99 that corresponds to the Design Review/previous Downtown Redevelopment Area boundary).
Both the North Merced and Downtown Sign Regulations were established in the early 1980’s in an effort to achieve higher standards for signage within those two areas than what was required for the rest of the City. The North Merced regulations include sign allowances based on frontage and distance from the street, regulations for monument signs and shopping center signs, a requirement for signs to contain individual letters (except logos), and administrative and Planning Commission approvals required for many signs. The Downtown Sign Regulations include special provisions for a Freeway District and a Vehicle Sales District as well as for Blade Signs and Window signs.
Various sections of the Sign regulations have been amended over the years to address temporary signs, blade signs, monument signs, commercial sign allowances in North Merced, freestanding shopping center signs, billboards, and the Freeway District.
The City’s current Sign Ordinance does not adequately address, and in some cases does not address at all, many modern sign designs (such as LED/Digital signs, inflatable signs, feather signs, sandwich boards, human signs, etc.), the Reed vs. Gilbert Supreme Court Case, and regulations for political signs, signs within the public right-of-way, gasoline price signs, and signs within residential zoning districts, to name just a few.
In 2019, minor updates to the current Sign Ordinance were approved by City Council (upon recommendation by the Planning Commission). These amendments primarily affected the North Merced area and focused on Shopping Center signs to address some immediate needs raised by prospective and existing business in the City.
Also, in July 2019, City staff issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire consultants to complete a Comprehensive Sign Ordinance Update, with proposals due on September 13, 2019. QK was selected as the consultant to prepare the comprehensive update. There has been extensive public outreach including focus group meetings, interviews with staff and other stakeholders, as well as surveys of other City’s sign ordinances.
On August 16, 2023, a public workshop was held in the City Council Chambers to introduce the proposed revisions to the Sign Ordinance. There were approximately 10-12 members of the public in attendance. The Draft Ordinance has also been posted to the City’s website for public review.
Findings/Considerations
Please refer to Exhibit A of the Draft Planning Commission Resolution at Attachment A. The proposed ordinance is provided at Exhibit B of the Draft Planning Commission Resolution at Attachment A.
ATTACHMENTS
A. Draft Planning Commission Resolution #4122 (including Draft Ordinance at
Exhibit B)
B) Existing Sign Ordinance
C) Environmental Review #23-27 (Categorical Exemption)