Solvang planners review draft sign ordinance that removes message-based rules, adds objective standards

Solvang planning staff presented a comprehensive administrative draft of a new sign ordinance Nov. 3, asking the Planning Commission for detailed feedback before the measure goes to city council for consideration early next year.

Rafael, planning staff, told the commission the rewrite is intended to modernize Title 11, Chapter 13; ensure "legal defensibility and First Amendment compliance"; adapt to new technology and business needs; and preserve Solvangs aesthetic. He said the draft removes message-based distinctions and instead regulates "time, place, manner" and objective physical attributes such as size, placement and materials, citing the U.S. Supreme Court decision Reed v. Town of Gilbert as the legal benchmark staff used in drafting the changes.

The draft would: create administrative sign permits for routine signs (including many temporary signs and A-frame signs); allow limited over-the-counter approval for suspended (pedestrian-oriented) signs when the hardware does not change; replace content-based limits (color, font, logos) with objective measurement standards; create a defined process for murals with maintenance and lighting rules and a cap of one mural per building or property; and standardize rules for awning, umbrella, monument/freestanding and wayfinding signs. Staff also proposed tying total allowable sign area to linear storefront frontage so businesses may allocate a frontage-based square-footage allowance among wall, suspended and awning…