BRENHAM OFFICIALS DRAW CLOSER TO NEW SIGNAGE STANDARDS
The City of Brenham is one step closer to making major changes to its rules on signage.
Brenham City Councilmembers and Planning and Zoning Commissioners met in work session this (Thursday) afternoon to discuss amendments to the current sign ordinance, originally adopted in 1981. The current and proposed sign ordinances refer to property in city limits and property in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).
Assistant Development Services Director Stephanie Doland said many changes have come about as the revised ordinance has been written.
Some of the changes include an increased amount of definitions for signs in the ordinance, as well as more types of signs allowable. One of the big changes concerns electronic signs with varying messages, which will only be allowed on properties next to Highway 290 and Highway 36, unless permitted by city council. Properties will be allowed to have one sign with two faces, no more than 50 square feet per sign face.
Select Furnishings owner Pat Johnson expressed frustration with the proposed area limit, saying it’s not big enough to read comfortably while driving at high speeds along the highway.
Johnson said a smaller size sign with smaller letters would be more of a hazard than having larger text that people can read at a glance. He proposed the area limit for electronic signs be raised to at least 64 square feet.
Doland said public input has been very helpful throughout the entire process, as the city has received great feedback. She noted that since the second draft of the ordinance was posted in April, no new feedback has been received, although the city has received similar feedback from when the first draft was made available.
Possible signage changes have been discussed by the city for several years, but the most recent talks began last September, when the city council received an update on the ordinance. There have been multiple workshop sessions and public input meetings since then.
Doland said the second part of ordinance adoption is educating the public on the new standards. A City Manager-appointed or designated sign administrator will enforce and carry out provisions of the ordinance.
The sign ordinance will appear before Planning and Zoning Commissioners at their meeting Tuesday, and before councilmembers on June 6th and 20th.
You can see more on the draft ordinance here.
When I built my hotel my sign contractor submitted engineered drawings for a permit. The permit was issued. Only thing, I could not have an message sign like the city Brenham park has. Will the new sign rules let a hotel business have the same sign rules that are the Brenham park rules?
Another ordinance with another new city hall employee. This employee being being a “sign administrator” Give the the local tax payer a break. The administrator writing this ordinance for the city manager can enforce the new rules. Why does this city manager in a city the size of Brenham need continue to rob the local taxpayers? It is no wonder to this taxpayer that council person Cantey said that the budget is a tortuous process, when tax dollars are again and again wasted.
There will not be a NEW employee enforcing the ordinance. The sign administrator is a designation and additional duties for an existing employee(s).
Um. I think what they mean is that an existing city employee will get an additional duty, not that they’ll hire somebody new to become sign adminustrator. Leastways, that’s what that kind of wording means in the Army.