Loveland council updates sign code on first reading, narrows electronic-sign rules and preserves 50% window limit

The Loveland City Council voted Jan. 22 on first reading to adopt major amendments to Title 18 of the Municipal Code (Ordinance No. 6753), updating the city’s sign regulations for the first time in decades.

Carrie Burchette, strategic planning staff, and Todd Messenger of Fairfield & Woods presented the rewrite as a modernization of a roughly 30-year-old sign code: the draft reorganizes rules into tables and graphics, adds clearer measurement standards, introduces allowances for creative and awning signage, and distinguishes rules by zone (residential, downtown, commercial/industrial).

"We wanted to modernize a 30 year old sign code that had been bandaged and patched through the times to try to keep up with technology," Burchette said, explaining the code aims to be user friendly and to balance business needs, streetscape character and the First Amendment legal framework.

Todd Messenger summarized the legal constraints: after the Supreme Court’s Reed v. Gilbert decision local sign rules must be content neutral, so the code regulates size, number, location and duration rather than message content.

Key changes approved or advanced on first reading include: - Temporary signs: keeping a base allowance of 12 yard signs per property but limiting most additional signs to defined short-duration periods while permitting two signs to remain indefinitely; larger commercial temporary signs tied to linear frontage (one per 600 linear feet) for campuses and corridors. - Portable signs: expansion of pedestrian-oriented A-frame and blade signs beyond the downtown business district into other pedestrian retail centers, with permitting and placement standards to avoid ADA obstruction. - Window signs: new coverage limits to preserve visibility (25% downtown, 50% elsewhere) — a later council amendment proposal to remove the 50% rule failed. - Electronic message signs: staff proposed increasing message-duration timing in business zones from 5 to 10 seconds and allowing civic-use electronic boards in residential zones with a 30-second minimum; Council adopted an amendment to require a 10-second minimum for civic/community electronic signs and clarified patio/sidewalk clearance rules for portable signs.

Council debated enforcement practicality and equity between commercial and residential signage, questioned how rules would be enforced given limited code-enforcement staffing, and considered downtown character vs. property-right concerns. Councilor Sampson successfully moved an amendment to change the residential civic electronic sign timing to a 10-second minimum and to require portable signs not impede a 5-foot pedestrian corridor measured from the curb.

A separate motion to eliminate the 50% window-coverage rule outside the downtown area failed 2–6 after councilors cited public-safety and visibility concerns.

Following the debate and amendment votes, the council approved Ordinance No. 6753 on first reading by roll call (7 yes, 1 no). Planning staff said a second reading is scheduled for Feb. 4 and that the code changes followed extensive outreach including the downtown DDA, planning commission (which gave recommendations), local sign contractors and the Colorado Sign Association.

The ordinance alters many technical standards that affect businesses and neighborhoods; staff advised the city will rely on complaint-driven enforcement and a sticker/permit program for right-of-way blade signs in downtown to simplify administration.