The Arkadelphia Planning Commission Subcommittee of sign and overlay districts met for the first time Tuesday to choose an acting chairman and hear a presentation from Little Rock-based Urban Planning Associates, Inc.
Members of the subcommittee are Shelley Loe, representing Southern Bancorp; Bobby Jones, representing Henderson State; Brett Powell, representing Ouachita Baptist, and planning commission members Anita Wiley, Martha Bryant and Bill Mertins, who was selected to chair the panel.
Jim von Tungeln, president of Urban Planning Associates, gave the presentation. More than a year ago, there were plans that the Army National Guard would be re-located into a new facility on Highway 67 between Arkadelphia and Caddo Valley. A sewer line was planned to run along that corridor, and commercial development was foreseen. “That has fallen through,” von Tungeln said. Now, the city is looking to update its overlay districts and sign ordinances. “A lot of cities are in the process of upgrading their sign ordinances.”
Armed with a 14-page draft of sign regulations for Arkadelphia, Tungeln highlighted five issues with his “very complicated” proposed regulations.
First, the subcommittee would need to decide where the ordinance, if passed, would be located: as a stand-alone ordinance or within the zoning code, which was recommended. Second, “if the sign regulations are to be adopted as a separate ordinance, it will need an appeals section.” Third, some items in the draft are unique to a specific city and may not be applicable to Arkadelphia. Those items were highlighted in the document. Next, there is a category of signs called “off-premise” which includes everything from billboards to small directional signs that might point the way to a hotel that is off the main artery.
“If the city wants to ban all off-premise signs, the treatment will be simple. If some off-premise signs, such as directional signs, regulations will be more complicated. Probably, size and height would determine this.” Finally, “The maximum height of a pole sign needs to be discussed,” Tungeln said. A pole sign is mounted on a free-standing pole or other support so that the bottom edge of the sign face is 6 feet or more above grade.
“For most areas inside town, 35 feet is a standard. Some cities allow 50 feet within a certain distance of the interstate. I feel 35 feet is enough, but this must be a local decision. The one thing to avoid at all cost is to begin basing the height of a pole sign on an increasing distance from the interstate. This will escalate to the point where you have signs over 100 feet tall.”
Mertins noted that the city does have some regulations pertaining to signs, but that the ordinance has not been updated since the 1970s.
Section I of the draft defines 27 types of signs, from political signs to flashing signs and even “ghost signs.”
Section II spells out the general provisions of the draft ordinance, from general rules to exemptions and permits and fees for placing a sign to signs that would be completely prohibited within the city limits.
Some of the general rules of the draft ordinance include requiring a permit for the erection, alteration or reconstruction of any sign — and the permits would be issued by the planning and zoning commission; only signs installed or authorized by the state, county or city would be placed on the public right-of-way; and no sign could be permanently painted, pasted or similarly posted directly on the surface of any wall, nor could they be placed on a wall, fence or standard facing the side of any adjoining lot located in any residential zone.
Other rules would regulate materials used in signs, illumination of signs and the height of a sign in comparison to a building’s roofline.
Exemptions to the draft include building design, as well as official traffic or governmental signs; the copy and message of signs; window displays; product dispensers; scoreboards on athletic fields; advertising at public athletic fields; flags of any nation, government or non-commercial organization; gravestones; barber poles; religious symbols; commemorative signs, tablets or plaques approved by the city board; signs required to be maintained by law or governmental order, rule or regulation; the display of street numbers; any display or construction not defined as a sign; and off-premise open house signs for the day on which the open house is conducted.
Prohibited signs would include those imitating warning signals (like those resembling flashing lights used by emergency vehicles); signs attached or painted to trees, fence posts and telephone or utility poles; fluttering ribbons and banners, except flags of governments and their agencies; billboards; hand-tacked signs; and temporary signs like those affixed to metal wires inserted in the ground, those that are attached to landscaping or parking lot lighting “in a temporary fashion,” those supported by temporary structures and signs attached to or painted on vehicles that are parked in the same location for more than 48 hours “in such a manner as to become permanent advertising.”
There are also regulations in the draft that would set standards for specific signs. Those standards, some of which are lengthy, would apply to wall signs, ground signs, signs on work under construction, temporary subdivision signs, temporary signs, political signs, real estate signs and balloon signs.
Under Article V (Permits) of Section II, “unless otherwise provided by this article, all signs shall require permits and payment of fees as described in this section. Application for a permit for the erection, alteration or relocation of a sign, when allowed by this article, shall be made to the code enforcement officer and approved by the planning and zoning commission or duly appointed. Form or forms may be required to provide the information necessary to administer the provisions of this article ... ”
The minimum information that would be required to apply for a permit would include height, detail, structure and location of the sign. Also, all electrical work performed in conjunction with the installation of a sign would require an electrical permit as described by the city’s electrical code.
Some signs, however, would be exempted from attaining a permit. Those signs include those authorized by any government agency, church bulletin boards, non-illuminated For Sale, Rent or Lease signs located at least 15 feet back from the street right-of-way, and political signs.
Fees would also be placed on sign permits. The proposed fee for signs up to 60 square feet is $15, and 25 cents per square foot for signs over that.
Other articles of Section II spell out that sign owners would be responsible for the maintenance of their signs, and what signs would be permitted in residential, commercial, industrial and PUD zones in the city.
The subcommittee is expected to meet again before the end of the year to discuss the details of articles and if the ordinance should stand alone as a law or be included in the city’s zoning code.
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The Arkadelphia Planning Commission Subcommittee of sign and overlay districts met for the first time Tuesday to choose an acting chairman and hear a presentation from Little Rock-based Urban Planning Associates, Inc.
Members of the subcommittee are Shelley Loe, representing Southern Bancorp; Bobby Jones, representing Henderson State; Brett Powell, representing Ouachita Baptist, and planning commission members Anita Wiley, Martha Bryant and Bill Mertins, who was selected to chair the panel.
Jim von Tungeln, president of Urban Planning Associates, gave the presentation. More than a year ago, there were plans that the Army National Guard would be re-located into a new facility on Highway 67 between Arkadelphia and Caddo Valley. A sewer line was planned to run along that corridor, and commercial development was foreseen. “That has fallen through,” von Tungeln said. Now, the city is looking to update its overlay districts and sign ordinances. “A lot of cities are in the process of upgrading their sign ordinances.”
Armed with a 14-page draft of sign regulations for Arkadelphia, Tungeln highlighted five issues with his “very complicated” proposed regulations.
First, the subcommittee would need to decide where the ordinance, if passed, would be located: as a stand-alone ordinance or within the zoning code, which was recommended. Second, “if the sign regulations are to be adopted as a separate ordinance, it will need an appeals section.” Third, some items in the draft are unique to a specific city and may not be applicable to Arkadelphia. Those items were highlighted in the document. Next, there is a category of signs called “off-premise” which includes everything from billboards to small directional signs that might point the way to a hotel that is off the main artery.
“If the city wants to ban all off-premise signs, the treatment will be simple. If some off-premise signs, such as directional signs, regulations will be more complicated. Probably, size and height would determine this.” Finally, “The maximum height of a pole sign needs to be discussed,” Tungeln said. A pole sign is mounted on a free-standing pole or other support so that the bottom edge of the sign face is 6 feet or more above grade.
“For most areas inside town, 35 feet is a standard. Some cities allow 50 feet within a certain distance of the interstate. I feel 35 feet is enough, but this must be a local decision. The one thing to avoid at all cost is to begin basing the height of a pole sign on an increasing distance from the interstate. This will escalate to the point where you have signs over 100 feet tall.”
Mertins noted that the city does have some regulations pertaining to signs, but that the ordinance has not been updated since the 1970s.
Section I of the draft defines 27 types of signs, from political signs to flashing signs and even “ghost signs.”
Section II spells out the general provisions of the draft ordinance, from general rules to exemptions and permits and fees for placing a sign to signs that would be completely prohibited within the city limits.
Some of the general rules of the draft ordinance include requiring a permit for the erection, alteration or reconstruction of any sign — and the permits would be issued by the planning and zoning commission; only signs installed or authorized by the state, county or city would be placed on the public right-of-way; and no sign could be permanently painted, pasted or similarly posted directly on the surface of any wall, nor could they be placed on a wall, fence or standard facing the side of any adjoining lot located in any residential zone.
Other rules would regulate materials used in signs, illumination of signs and the height of a sign in comparison to a building’s roofline.
Exemptions to the draft include building design, as well as official traffic or governmental signs; the copy and message of signs; window displays; product dispensers; scoreboards on athletic fields; advertising at public athletic fields; flags of any nation, government or non-commercial organization; gravestones; barber poles; religious symbols; commemorative signs, tablets or plaques approved by the city board; signs required to be maintained by law or governmental order, rule or regulation; the display of street numbers; any display or construction not defined as a sign; and off-premise open house signs for the day on which the open house is conducted.
Prohibited signs would include those imitating warning signals (like those resembling flashing lights used by emergency vehicles); signs attached or painted to trees, fence posts and telephone or utility poles; fluttering ribbons and banners, except flags of governments and their agencies; billboards; hand-tacked signs; and temporary signs like those affixed to metal wires inserted in the ground, those that are attached to landscaping or parking lot lighting “in a temporary fashion,” those supported by temporary structures and signs attached to or painted on vehicles that are parked in the same location for more than 48 hours “in such a manner as to become permanent advertising.”
There are also regulations in the draft that would set standards for specific signs. Those standards, some of which are lengthy, would apply to wall signs, ground signs, signs on work under construction, temporary subdivision signs, temporary signs, political signs, real estate signs and balloon signs.
Under Article V (Permits) of Section II, “unless otherwise provided by this article, all signs shall require permits and payment of fees as described in this section. Application for a permit for the erection, alteration or relocation of a sign, when allowed by this article, shall be made to the code enforcement officer and approved by the planning and zoning commission or duly appointed. Form or forms may be required to provide the information necessary to administer the provisions of this article ... ”
The minimum information that would be required to apply for a permit would include height, detail, structure and location of the sign. Also, all electrical work performed in conjunction with the installation of a sign would require an electrical permit as described by the city’s electrical code.
Some signs, however, would be exempted from attaining a permit. Those signs include those authorized by any government agency, church bulletin boards, non-illuminated For Sale, Rent or Lease signs located at least 15 feet back from the street right-of-way, and political signs.
Fees would also be placed on sign permits. The proposed fee for signs up to 60 square feet is $15, and 25 cents per square foot for signs over that.
Other articles of Section II spell out that sign owners would be responsible for the maintenance of their signs, and what signs would be permitted in residential, commercial, industrial and PUD zones in the city.
The subcommittee is expected to meet again before the end of the year to discuss the details of articles and if the ordinance should stand alone as a law or be included in the city’s zoning code.
