Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Signs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council calls sign ordinance 'terrible' and asks staff to draft modern code
Summary
Staff said the city's sign ordinance has not been comprehensively updated since 1995 and contains inconsistent and conflicting provisions; council asked staff and the city attorney to find a contemporary model code, tailor it to Lucas, and bring it back (potentially via a subcommittee).
City staff described the current sign ordinance as outdated and inconsistent and recommended rewriting it using a modern template tailored for Lucas. Staff said the ordinance contains conflicting definitions, refers to outdated titles ("city administrator" instead of "city manager") and lacks sensible setbacks; councilors noted frequent nuisance 'bandit' signs and the labor required to remove them.
"Our sign ordinance, quite frankly, is terrible from start to finish," Mr. Hilburn said, adding that some sign sections had not been reviewed since 1995. He told the council staff would locate a contemporary sign code and propose local amendments for review.
Council discussed enforcement challenges: sign-removal runs take several hours multiple times a week and civil court fines do not always cover court costs. Council suggested a subcommittee review the draft before it is published for public comment and emphasized that any new code should allow reasonable exceptions while preventing proliferating commercial signs.
