Sign code to be simplified, aligned with city zoning

PlaceMakers, the firm the city of Homewood has hired to help draft new sign ordinances, intends to tie those new ordinances more closely with the city’s zoning districts and regulate a few characteristics: type, number, size and style.

Hazel Borys from PlaceMakers shared these and other thoughts in a lightly-attended public meeting about the sign ordinances on Thursday, April 25. Borys said PlaceMakers has met with the city on its desires for the new ordinance and will solicit public input through Memorial Day.

Homewood’s existing sign code, Borys said, is not user-friendly and has a number of different sign districts that don’t match up with property zoning for different uses.

“[Businesses] call me constantly because there’s so many different districts,” Building, Engineering and Zoning employee Greg Cobb said at the April 25 meeting.

There also have been a number of variances given to noncompliant signs even since the last ordinance update in 2015.

“The city staff is telling us it’s pretty hard for the current sign ordinance … to be enforced,” she said.

Borys said the most common variances are given for businesses that want to exceed the allowed square footage or number of signs. PlaceMakers is considering raising those limits in a “context-sensitive” way, with different sign codes for areas with more pedestrian traffic or more vehicle traffic.

Criteria will include location, density, lighting, animation, materials, color, portability and whether the sign is temporary or is freestanding from the building.

One example Borys mentioned was allowing one sign per tenant on multi-business buildings, rather than a single sign per building. She also said allowed sizes in more suburban areas of the city likely would not be increased.

“Our goal is to take the variances way lower than they are now,” she said.

Murals are currently considered as signs in the city’s ordinance. Borys said based on City Council feedback, the new ordinance would likely allow murals to take up to 50% of one wall, but if it includes a company name or logo, it will be considered a sign and must meet ordinance restrictions.

After a 2015 Supreme Court case, Borys said cities are no longer allowed to regulate signs based on their content, such as political or realtor signs. She said in order to be “content-neutral,” the ordinance must not include any restrictions that the city would have to read the sign to see whether it would be compliant.

Homewood has some signs that are out of compliance but “grandfathered” in because they were built before new ordinances were put in place, such as billboards. Cobb said the city allows the grandfathered signs to remain as long as use of the sign does not lapse for more than six months.

Borys said PlaceMakers is considering a 30-day time limit instead. This would require the removal of many grandfathered signs, as most buildings could not have a new tenant in place with an updated sign within 30 days of a prior business closing.

“It’s the city’s goal to eliminate sign clutter, … and the goal frankly is to make the signs expire,” Susan Henderson from PlaceMakers said.

Enforcement is a concern with the new code, as Cobb said the BEZ Department already needs more manpower. Borys said PlaceMakers plans to include the recommendation of adding a full time city planner to the staff.

More details about the plans for the sign ordinance are available at homewoodsigncode.com, and PlaceMakers also has an online survey for public input through May 27.

Borys said PlaceMakers will provide an updated outline of the new sign ordinance in June, with more public meetings. They plan to have a finalized ordinance by August or September for the city to approve.