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Garden City planning commission favors 10% cap on mural ‘message units’ in draft ordinance
Summary
Commissioners reviewed options for a mural ordinance that would limit the portion of a permitted 500-square-foot mural that may contain words or logos, and directed staff to prepare a draft with a 10% message-unit cap for public hearing.
The Garden City Planning Commission on June 11 discussed proposed amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance that would regulate murals by limiting how much of an allowed mural area may contain words, logos or other ‘‘message units.’’ Staff presented a chart showing a 500-square-foot maximum mural area and four percentage options for message-unit coverage — 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% — and explained how the percentages translate to square footage on typical one-story walls.
Commissioners said they wanted to limit the amount of text or branding on murals in order to preserve artistic space and avoid converting murals into additional building signage. After discussing how to treat painted background areas versus defined mural artwork and how the zoning administrator would interpret a submitted graphic, commissioners generally favored the lower end of the options. The commission directed staff to bring back ordinance language reflecting the group’s input and to schedule the required public hearing process before forwarding a recommendation to city council.
Staff clarified the proposal would treat the maximum mural area as 500 square feet (for zoning-calculation purposes). Under the options discussed, 10% of that area equals 50 square feet, 15% equals 75 square feet, 20% equals 100 square feet and 30% equals 150 square feet. Commissioners asked staff to require applicants to submit a graphic representation so the zoning administrator can determine whether a painted building color is merely a façade paint job or meets the ordinance’s definition of a mural; the transcript records that interpretation and, if appealed, the zoning board of appeals would review the determination.
The commission identified two separate regulatory levers: (1) a quantitative cap on message units within a mural, which the commission preferred to set at the lower end (10% was the consensus direction), and (2) administrative review of whether a given painted area qualifies as a mural versus general façade paint. Commissioners also noted the ordinance must comply with Supreme Court rulings on content regulation of signs and should be framed to regulate size and placement rather than message content.
Next steps: staff will incorporate the commission’s direction into a redlined draft ordinance and return the item for a public hearing and final recommendation to city council.
