Council puts moratorium on new billboards and digital signs, OKs up to $5,000 for sign-code consulting

The Sheldon City Council voted to enact a moratorium on new off-premise advertising signs (billboards) within city limits and in the city’s two‑mile extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction, and amended that moratorium to include "all digital signs of any type."

Tanya, speaking for the SCDC, described the council’s downtown signage recommendations and defined a "blade projecting" sign as "a double-sided perpendicularly mounted sign that juts out from building facades," saying the design aims to boost visibility for small businesses. Council members expressed a desire to preserve corridor aesthetics along Highway 18 and the old 60 corridor and to avoid a sudden influx of permit applications while the city updates its sign ordinance.

Planning staff recommended contracting a consultant to modernize the sign code (staff cited the current code as written in 2010). "He estimates a couple thousand dollars" for consultant work, staff said. The council voted to approve the moratorium with the digital-sign amendment and separately approved a spend authorization not to exceed $5,000 for Planning Solutions to evaluate sign-code options and bring recommendations to Planning & Zoning and then back to council for readings.

The moratorium includes a council-review pathway for applicants during the moratorium period; existing, grandfathered signs remain in place. Staff said steps will include drafting options on whether to allow any new off-premise signs in specified locations, distance spacing rules, and digital-sign brightness or animation limits. The council asked staff to return with a specific set of questions and options to guide drafting and review.