The Helotes City Council voted April 24 to allow a property owner to relocate a monument sign and amended the permit to make the approval permanent so long as the sign is not reconstructed, relocated or abandoned.

The council’s action, taken during agenda item 5, follows a recommendation from the planning and zoning panel and staff. Mayor (name not specified) moved that the council amend the original 10-year term to language approving the sign “in perpetuity as long as not reconstructed, relocated, or abandoned.” The motion passed on a voice vote. The council did not record a roll-call vote in the public transcript.

The council heard that the sign will be moved roughly 30 feet closer to the driveway and that the relocation was prompted in part by the installation of a fence and by repeated trash and parking issues in the business’s lot. Councilmember Sanders said he supported the change and asked staff whether the 10-year term was required; City Attorney Henry (last name not specified) said the council could set the term at 30 years or in perpetuity and recommended the “not reconstructed, relocated, or abandoned” phrasing to avoid repeated reauthorizations. “If we have a short time, we’re setting some things that we’ll have to track, monitor and adjust over time,” Henry said.

The meeting also approved two consent agenda items (items 3 and 4) without discussion. Councilmembers voiced “aye” and the mayor said the motion carried. A council member thanked the fire department for securing a grant that allowed replacement of malfunctioning defibrillators without using taxpayer dollars; staff named Firehouse Subs as the grant source during the discussion.

Item 6, a development contract matter, was removed from the agenda at the developer’s request and postponed to a future meeting so additional questions can be answered.

Votes at a glance
- Consent agenda items 3 and 4: approved on a voice vote; item 4 described by a council member as replacement of defibrillators using a Firehouse Subs public-safety grant (no dollar amount specified).
- Item 5 (monument sign relocation): approved as amended to be in perpetuity “as long as not reconstructed, relocated or abandoned” (motion carried on voice vote; no roll-call tally provided).
- Item 6 (development contract): postponed to a future meeting at the request of the applicant.

The council left the meeting after a relatively short session; the mayor closed the meeting following the postponed item.