City Seeks Feedback on Proposed New Sign Ordinance
Proposed amendments to the City of Dripping Springs’ sign ordinance will be heard at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in December.
The city’s sign ordinance regulates both commercial and noncommercial signage in the city and in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). The ordinance regulates the location, size, type, height, and materials of signs. These regulations are adopted to protect the safety of residents of the city and ETJ and to protect the aesthetic look of the city and surrounding areas. The city decided to update its current ordinance based on a 2015 Supreme Court of the United States decision which limited the way each city can regulate noncommercial signs. The changes to the sign ordinance are designed to accommodate that legal change while also updating the ordinance with best practices. The main issue in the court case was prohibiting the city from giving special treatment to certain types of noncommercial signs such as political signs.
The new ordinance includes: updated definitions; changing regulation of signs to be based on zoning districts or land use in the area; allowing administrative approval of some variances or sign requests; removing special treatment of some noncommercial signs; and other procedural changes.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will consider taking action on the proposed ordinance amendments during its meeting on December 17, 2018. City Council will review the ordinance after receiving recommendations from the Planning and Zoning Commission. The city encourages attendance during the public hearings to voice concerns or support for the proposed changes and welcomes feedback prior to the meeting. If you would like to provide written comments, please send them to City Secretary Andrea Cunningham at [email protected]. For specific questions, please contact City Administrator Michelle Fischer at [email protected]. To view the draft ordinance amendment, please visit http://www.cityofdrippingsprings.com/page/tab.notices.