Planning commission recommends council approve Highland Mains sign changes, urges stone base and monochrome tenant panels

Following a public hearing, the Highland Planning Commission voted to recommend that City Council adopt a development-agreement amendment to adjust signage rules for the Highland Mains development, with the commission requesting that final designs retain a stone base and use monochrome tenant panels (dark background, light lettering).

Rob, planning staff, described the proposed legislative amendment: the applicant asked to increase the number of commercial-center freestanding (CCF) signs (adding an extra CCF sign along SR92 and maintaining one on Alpine Highway), reduce the maximum height relative to past requests, and simplify some monument and wayfinding signs. Rob said the applicant’s concept proposes lowering the maximum height to about 15 feet (down from the 25-foot height approved previously by Council) and removing the stone base on some sign types, which would deviate from the city’s usual three-foot stone base requirement for this sign class.

During the required public hearing, resident Doug Courtney said the agenda packet appears to show a black background with white letters for tenant panels and that the proposed wood-look elements appeared likely to be aluminum with a wood finish rather than real timber. “It looks to me like it specifies that the background will be black and the letters will be white,” Courtney said. Elizabeth Rice, another Highland resident, told commissioners she finds lower monument signs more noticeable at driving speeds: “The taller the sign on SR92, the less I see it,” she said, urging the commission to consider legibility and visibility at highway speeds.

Commission members discussed the tradeoffs between visibility, materials and cohesiveness with adjacent phases of Highland Mains. Multiple commissioners said they preferred preserving a stone element to tie the new signs to existing monuments and recommended a monochrome approach for tenant panels to limit visual clutter. Rob noted the amendment is legislative and will require public hearings and final council action; he also reported the applicant was not present for the hearing.

A motion to recommend the proposed development-agreement amendment to the city council, with the commission’s recommended design clarifications (stone base and monochrome tenant signage), passed on a unanimous roll call. The commission explicitly declined to require shared use of the CCF signs for all CR-zone businesses, leaving sign use control to the site owner under the proposed amendment.