Homewood adopts overhauled sign code

While discussion continues over a new location for the electronic billboard at the BP station on Lakeshore Drive and Green Springs Highway, the city of Homewood has approved extensive changes to its signage regulations. Despite the timing, council president Bruce Limbaugh said the two issues are not connected.

“This was in the works before the issue of the billboard came up,” Limbaugh said.

The new codes have been in the works at least since October, when the council placed a moratorium on pole signs while they worked on amendments to the current sign regulations. That moratorium was set to expire in April, and the council approved the new codes at its March 23 meeting.

Though the controversial billboard didn’t inspire the new regulations, there will be effects for anyone planning to put a similar sign in Homewood city limits. According to a copy of the regulations provided by the city clerk’s office, the city’s codes for advertising on I-65 have been amended and include several restrictions on size and placement of billboards.

Signs cannot be closer than 600 feet to a residential property or another billboard, they are restricted to 40 feet in height and 672 square feet in sign area. Billboards with cutout extensions can have up to 1,000 square feet in area.

Billboards placed on Community Shopping District property cannot be farther than 75 feet from the I-65 right-of-way, and billboards in Light Manufacturing Districts must be placed on property adjacent to the interstate right-of-way and no more than 3,000 feet from the I-65 centerline.

Another major change is what Limbaugh described as the “absolute elimination” of pole signs in favor of monument signs, such as the sign at the driveway entrance of the Homewood City Schools building. He said monument signs fit better with the aesthetic goals of the city.

As a whole, the new regulations are intended to provide more uniformity in the look of advertisements throughout the city. Limbaugh said at one point there were eight sets of rules governing different parts of the city.

“The overall goal is to get some consistency, as much as possible, between various areas in the city,” he said.

Other changes include amendments to the rules on banners, freestanding signs, residential project signs and signs within Brookwood Village and Wildwood Centre. A number of sign types are now prohibited, including signs emitting noise or smoke, animated signs, obscene or illegal words and images, sandwich board signs, hot air or gas balloon signs and illuminated tubing or lighting on property, roof or building lines.

Signs also cannot be placed in locations where they obscure traffic signals or sight lines, obstruct doors and other walkways, enter public properties or rights-of-way, or on residential properties advertising home jobs or delivery services. This is not a complete list of the regulations.

The notice of the new sign codes will be posted at City Hall, the library, the senior center and the Lee Community Center in Rosedale. It will also be available on homewoodal.net.