Background/Discussion
The City’s Legal Department as given a directive by a member of the City Council to review the zoning code with relation to temporary business signs. While certain signs are currently allowed for advertising a business, it was their opinion that the code did not go far enough to accommodate the needs of business owners to be able to advertise their business on their own property. Legal worked with the Mayor’s office and the Planning Division to craft changes to the code that make it easier for businesses to advertise using signs that are subject to certain restrictions on such matters as size, placement and duration while, at the same time, protecting the City’s right-of-way and overall aesthetics of the community as a whole.
These changes are presented here for your review and include revisions to existing sections of the zoning ordinance relative to ‘Prohibited Signs’, ‘West Broadway Corridor Design Overlay’, ‘C-3/Commercial District’, ‘C-4/Commercial District’, and a new Section 15.33.090(F) under ‘Temporary Signs’. Since these code changes are the result of a directive from the Council, City staff maintains a neutral position on the proposed changes and will defer to the decisions made by both this Commission and the City Council.
The Council Bluffs Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on the request for these proposed changes to the zoning code on October 8, 2024, but was unable to pass any motion approving or denying the request.