City Council Meeting Date: July 23, 2019
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Scott Tempel, City Planner
Title
Consider Ordinance Amending Chapter 34 of the Northfield City Code, Land Development Regulations, Regarding Signs in the Downtown Historic District.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council considers the second reading of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 34 of the Northfield City Code, Land Development Regulations, Regarding Signs in the Downtown Historic District.
Summary Report:
The Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) is vested with the power to review and make decisions on Certificates of Appropriateness in the Downtown Historic District. Prior to the issuance of a sign permit, the applicant shall be required to apply for, and receive, a Certificate of Appropriateness from the HPC following a Type 3 review process. The intent is to assure signage is designed to enhance and complement the historic character of buildings within the District according to the Downtown Preservation Design Guidelines. The goal of this amendment is to eliminate ambiguous language and address issues with fonts, logos, and modern features like phone numbers and websites that have caused difficulty during the review process. A subcommittee of the HPC reviewed the signage regulations in the Land Development Code (LDC) last year and developed draft changes to the language.
The HPC reviewed and edited the proposed ordinance at several meetings and performed outreach to the business community and property owners. The HPC held a public information meeting before Thanksgiving 2018 where downtown business owners were invited for coffee and donuts at the Archer House. No business or building owners attended. Informational emails were also sent via the Chamber of Commerce inviting businesses to two separate HPC meetings to comment on the amendments. No comments were received.
The Planning Commission is responsible to make recommendations to ...
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