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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Planning Commission Meeting: November 22, 2016
Tentative City Council Meeting: December 20, 2016
AGENDA ITEM: Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to
Relating to Dynamic Signs
AGENDA SECTION:
Public Hearing
PREPARED BY: Anthony Nemcek, Planner AGENDA NO.
5.c.
ATTACHMENTS: Draft Ordinance APPROVED BY:
K.L.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Motion to Recommend Approval of the Text Amendment to
the City Council
SUMMARY
The current Sign ordinance allows dynamic signs within the C-3: Highway Commercial, C-4: General
Commercial, and P/I: Public and Institutional zoning districts. The ordinance specifically notes that
properties in the Downtown, including those zoned C-3 are not allowed to have dynamic signs. The sign
ordinance permits the dynamic portion of any sign to comprise no more than 35% of a sign’s total area.
Staff has received requests to modify the City’s sign ordinance to allow dynamic signs within the
Downtown zoning district and to increase the sign percentage for dynamic capabilities. Staff is
recommending approval of an amendment to the existing ordinance to allow dynamic signs in the
Downtown zoning district and to increase the percentage of a sign that can have dynamic capabilities from
35% to 50% in the P/I zoning district and P/I uses in a residential district.
BACKGROUND
Legal Authority
Ordinance amendments are legislative actions in that the City is creating new standards to regulate the
development of certain types of structures or use. Under the law, the City has wide flexibility to create
standards that will insure the type of development it desires.
DISCUSSION
Staff has been fielding requests from business owners in the Downtown District to amend the City’s sign
ordinance to allow dynamic signs in the Downtown area. Currently dynamic signs are allowed in the C3-
Highway Commercial (although not the C-3 zoned property within the Downtown as defined by the
Downtown Redevelopment Framework), C4-General Commercial, and PI-Public/Institutional zoning
districts. Public and institutional uses located within residential districts may also have dynamic signs as
long as they meet all other sign standards for PI Public Institutional zoning district. Two dynamic signs
were recently approved in the Downtown District at the Steeple Center and Culver’s as part of Planned
Unit Development approvals.
Dynamic signs are currently not allowed in the Downtown District due to concerns about maintaining the
character of the Downtown. Staff has met with several business owners who have requested an
amendment to the ordinance to permit dynamic signs in the Downtown zoning district. Currently
dynamic signs are only allowed on freestanding signs, and staff does not think the ordinance should be
changed to allow dynamic signs on wall or projecting signs.
2
Staff believes that permitting a dynamic sign in the Downtown would not adversely affect the character of
the Downtown if other sign regulations are met, such as limits on sign time, prohibition on animation and
motion, and the lettering sizes. Staff would envision the sign to function similar to the Culvers, where they
convey information but there isn’t a lot of extra messaging on the dynamic portion of the sign. Some of
the businesses interested in having some portion of their sign dynamic are businesses that would also
intend to update their entire sign, bring the sign in compliance with existing standards. Staff is
recommending the Downtown zoning district, and the C-3 properties in the Downtown, be allowed to
have 35% of their sign to be dynamic, with a maximum of 14 square feet, whichever is less.
In addition to allowing dynamic signage in the Downtown district, Staff is also recommending to increase
the size of the dynamic portion of the sign in Public and Institutional zoning districts and P/I uses in
Residential District from 35% to 50%. An institutional use along County Road 42 would like to add a
dynamic function to their sign, but the existing text size requirements that are based on traffic speed make
installing dynamic signage impossible when combined with the maximum percentage of the sign area that
can be dynamic. Staff feels that increasing the maximum area of dynamic capabilities of signs within the
P/I zoning district and P/I uses located in Residential Districts is an appropriate solution.
Staff also anticipates increasing the size of signs in the Public and Institutional zoning district and for
public and institutional uses in Residential Districts at our next commission meeting. Unfortunately, staff
did not publish for the change with this text amendment and therefore will follow up with the change in
December.
Zoning District Maximum Sign
Area
Current Maximum
Dynamic Area (%)
Current Maximum
Dynamic Area (Sq
Ft)
Proposed Maximum
Dynamic Area
PI 32 Sq Ft 35 11.2 Sq Ft 50%
DT 40 Sq Ft n/a n/a 35% or 14 Sq Ft
whichever is less
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Planning Commission make a motion to recommend approval of the text
amendment.
City of Rosemount
Ordinance No. B- XXX
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY OF ROSEMOUNT ZONING ORDINANCE
B RELATING TO DYNAMIC SIGNS
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROSEMOUNT, MINNESOTA, ORDAINS that
Ordinance B, adopted September 19, 1989, entitled “City of Rosemount Zoning Ordinance,” is
hereby amended as follows:
Section 1. Rosemount Zoning Ordinance B, Section 11-8-4.E: Dynamic Signs: Dynamic
signs are allowed subject to the following standards:
1. District Limitations: Dynamic signs may be located on properties within the C-3
highway commercial (excluding the downtown study area as designated in the
development framework for downtown Rosemount), C-4 general commercial.
Dynamic signs are also permitted in PI public and institutional, and DT downtown
districts, so long as the property has frontage along an arterial road or major collector
as designated in the comprehensive plan. Dynamic signs may also be located on
public and institutional uses within a residential zone, provided the site has an
approved conditional use permit (CUP) and complies with all other sign standards
and is located on a designated arterial or major collector road. (Ord. B-221, 4-17-
2012)
2. Location: The sign must be located on the site of the use identified or advertised by
the sign.
3. Orientation: When located within one hundred fifty feet (150') of a residential use or
zone, dynamic signs must be oriented so that no portion of the sign face is visible
from the residential use or zoning district.
4. Type Of Sign: Dynamic signs are limited to ground signs only.
5. Text Size And Legibility: The following minimum text sizes shall apply to all
dynamic signs. If a sign is located on a corner with streets that have differing speed
limits, the minimum text size shall be based on the standard for the higher speed limit
to ensure maximum legibility.
MINIMUM TEXT SIZES FOR DYNAMIC SIGNS
Speed Limit Of Adjacent Road
(Miles Per Hour)
Minimum Text Size
(Inches)
25 to 34 7
35 to 44 9
45 to 54 12
55 or more 15
6. Mode: Dynamic signs shall only be allowed to operate in a static mode. Animation,
motion or video displays are prohibited. Any change from one static display to
another must be instantaneous and shall not include any distracting effects, such as
dissolving, spinning or fading. The images and messages displayed must be complete
in themselves, without continuation in content to the next image or message or to any
other sign.
7. Size And Number Of Dynamic Display: The dynamic portion of any sign shall not
exceed thirty five percent (35%) of the total allowable area of the sign, except for the
Public and Institutional district and Public and Institutional uses within residential
districts where the maximum percentage shall be fifty percent (50%). The dynamic
portion of signs within the downtown study area as designated in the 2004
Development Framework for Downtown Rosemount is 35% or fourteen (14) square
feet whichever is less.
The remaining percentage of the allowable sign area cannot have dynamic
capabilities even if it is not used. Each site can have only one dynamic sign and that
sign can have only one dynamic display.
8. Minimum Display Time: The minimum display time shall be five (5) minutes. One
exception to this standard would be for time, date and temperature signs which the
federal court has acknowledged as a justifiable exception to limitations on variable
message signs. The time, date and temperature information may change no faster than
once every three (3) seconds, provided that the display of this information remains for
at least five (5) minutes before changing to another display.
9. Brightness: Dynamic signs shall not exceed a maximum illumination of five thousand
(5,000) nits during daylight hours and a maximum illumination of five hundred (500)
nits between dusk to dawn as measured from the sign's face at maximum brightness.
All dynamic sign applications shall include certification from the sign's manufacturer
that the sign has been preset to conform to the luminance levels noted above and
these settings are protected from end users' manipulation by password protected
software.
10. Color: Dynamic signs may use multiple colors within the display but the use of color
shall not create distraction or a hazard to the public health, safety or welfare. No
portion of the display may change in color or color intensity in any manner. Each line
of text in any direction shall be uniform in color.
11. Operation: All dynamic signs shall be equipped with a means to immediately
discontinue the display if it malfunctions. The owner of a dynamic sign must
immediately cease operation of their sign when notified by the city that it fails to
comply with the standards of this chapter. The dynamic sign shall remain inoperable
until such time that the owner demonstrates to the city that the device is in
satisfactory working condition and conforms to the standards of this chapter. Appeals
of the city's direction regarding the operation of a dynamic sign shall follow the
appeals process outlined in chapter 12, "Board Of Appeals And Adjustments", of this
title.
12. Application To Existing Signs: The dynamic sign standards shall apply to all existing
and future dynamic signs, unless otherwise determined by the city that an existing
sign qualifies as a nonconforming use under state statute or this code. Any existing
dynamic sign that cannot meet the minimum text size as required by the speed limit
must use the largest size possible for one line of copy to fit in the available display
space.
Section 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and
after its passage and publication according to law.
ENACTED AND ORDAINED into an Ordinance this 20th day of December, 2016.
CITY OF ROSEMOUNT
______________________
William H. Droste, Mayor
ATTEST:
Clarissa Handler, City Clerk