Duvall staff propose sign-code rewrite and community banner policy to avoid First Amendment risk

City staff presented proposed changes to the sign code (BMC 14.50) and a community banner policy during the July 22 meeting of the Duvall Planning Commission, saying the city must remove content-based temporary-sign language to avoid constitutional problems. The Director of Community and Economic Development told the commission the draft shifts to form-based rules and separates murals from temporary-sign provisions to be regulated as public art.

"We have to do this because we have content in our temporary science regulations that's not content neutral, and we don't wanna be violating the constitution," the Director said, explaining a move to form-based regulations and design review for murals. Staff described outreach that included a June 16 workshop for nonprofits and a July 7 session with real-estate stakeholders, reporting that real-estate representatives asked for higher sign density and a reduced setback for yard/for-sale signs (a proposal to move setbacks from 5 feet to 3 feet was discussed but not formally recommended by staff). Staff also clarified the draft community-banner criteria: allowable banners must be city messaging (nonpolitical, nonreligious), free to the community, and generally limited to a 14-day duration for single-event messages, with exceptions for multi-week events such as a summer stage series.

Staff asked the commission and public to provide written feedback by July 31 to prepare the draft for a planning-commission and city-council public hearing in August. The commission did not take a final vote on code text at the meeting; staff said the sign-code amendments remain in a draft stage and will return for a formal hearing once additional public input and internal cleanup (for example, deletion of an erroneous 30-square-foot reference) are incorporated.