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Commission debates where art becomes advertising: murals, ice-cream cones and the line to a sign
Summary
Commissioners debated how to distinguish murals and art from signs that convey business information; proposals included defining signs by physical characteristics and intent (advertising/announcement) rather than content alone.
A recurring theme in the July 19 workshop was how to distinguish murals and art from commercial signage when painted or attached to a building's exterior.
Commissioners discussed examples such as an ice-cream cone mural: if a painted cone sits on a building but does not include business-identifying text, is it a mural (art) or an advertising sign? "If you have an ice cream cone, but you have a dog wash and ice cream is just cute, then that's art," one commissioner said. Staff suggested focusing definitions on structural form, intent (whether the element's primary purpose is to communicate business information), and illumination.
Johanna Blanco said staff are drafting a robust sign definition and a memo with diagnostic questions to determine whether an exterior graphic constitutes a sign. Commissioners asked staff to consider including a specific mural category or clarifying that painted images without business-identifying text are art, while painted images that include business names or illumination should be treated as signage.
