The Lubbock Planning and Zoning Commission on July 22 approved a package of staff-recommended amendments to the city's Unified Development Code but voted down a separate proposal to increase allowable sign area on parking-garage facades.
The commission approved the staff package, excluding item 31, by an 8-0 vote; a later motion to adopt amendment 31 failed in an 0-8 vote, meaning the proposed sign change will not be adopted by the commission and will go to City Council for consideration on Aug. 12.
The proposed sign change, referred to in the meeting as UDC amendment 31, would have increased the allowable sign area on building facades from 20 percent to 35 percent for the garage in question. Citizens and several commissioners said the amendment would amount to special treatment for a single property and could expose drivers and passersby to larger, permanent advertising on a major arterial.
Mary Kreitz, a resident who signed up for public comment, told the commission: "This request is permanent, and it goes with the building for all for all time, no matter who the owner is." Kreitz cited the risk that future owners could display content the city cannot regulate and urged commissioners to "reject this unfair and ill conceived amendment." Steven Falk, another resident, said the issue had been denied repeatedly by other boards and that public-safety concerns about motorists looking at large signs needed to guide the commission's decision. "It needs to be, you need to take care of the health, safety, and welfare of not 1 person that is wanting to put those signs up there, but all the thousands of people that are going by on that freeway every day," Falk said.
Planning staff presented the recommended UDC changes as a broader package of clarifications and updates; commissioners agreed to adopt the remainder of the package without item 31. The staff presentation noted the amendments were developed through the city's regular code-review process and public comment period.
The commission's vote rejects the proposed change to allow larger garage signage at the commission level; the item will still be heard by City Council on Aug. 12. If Council adopts a different outcome, the city's UDC would be amended according to Council's decision. No changes to the city's sign content rules were made at the commission meeting.