Dancing air-blown figures and inflatable animals will have limited engagements in front of businesses if the City of Orange goes through with proposals to rewrite the ordinances regulating signs. Tuesday afternoon, the Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the new regulations recommended by Planning Director Kelvin Knauf.
No vote was taken and any official change will have to go through a public hearing and a vote by the commission and then the City Council.
“We’re not here to create a problem for business, we’re trying to create an environment where business wants to come,” Commissioner Jack Moore said.
Two years ago the commission and city set limits for how many days a business can fly a promotional flag or banner. A business now needs to file at no charge for a permit. The flags or banners can be up for 30 days at a time with a 30-day wait period before more banners can be up. A business is limited to three 30-day periods in a year.
The proposed rules will add the “air dancers” and inflatables like a giant ram’s head in front of a car dealership to the category with the flags and banners.
The city will also create a new classification of “special event signs” for a community-wide activity sponsored by the city, “an accredited institute of higher learning, a charitable organization or a not-for-profit organization such as Bassmasters, and boat races.”
Another change will be for window signs. The proposal will allow a storefront window to have only 30 percent of the window space covered by signage. Knauf said the rules will allow surveillance inside by fire or police authorities.
One business in a strip center along 16th Street currently has its windows covered in a variety of small signs. Knauf said that business will be grandfathered and allowed to keep the current sign arrangement if a new ordinance is adopted.
The current rules have a maximum master sign for a business at 400 square feet (20 feet by 20 feet) with an unlimited size for a shopping center. The proposal has a maximum of 600 square feet for a shopping center. Members of the commission asked Knauf to find out the square footage of the Northway Shopping Center on 16th Street so they can get a concept of what the size would be.
Commissioners attending the meeting were Chair Cullin Smith, Moore, Joe Love and Michael Smith. No members of the City Council attended.
Social Media