1e. Zoning Ordianance to Permit Large on-Premise Directional Signs F i e,.
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\ .1/4‘; . CHANHASSEN
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690 COULTER DRIVE • P.O. BOX 147 • CHANHASSEN, MINNESOTA 55317
II (612) 937-1900
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MEMORANDUM t in, :,L___� __
TO: Don Ashworth, City Manager„, y , , ;,,,,t,„
IFROM: Barbara Dacy, City Planner .,. ,,
DATE: June 23, 1988 �' -
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ISUBJ: Zoning Ordinance Amendment to Amend Section 20-1255, (2 )a
and (2)c, Final Reading (ZOA 88-4)
1 BACKGROUND
I The City Council at the June 13, 1988, meeting approved for first
reading an ordinance amendment to allow a 12 square foot on-
premise directional sign in industrial zoned land in excess of 40
1 acres . The attached ordinance reflects the Council' s action.
ANALYSIS
I However, staff neglected to remind the Council at the meeting
that an amendment to Section 20-1255 (2 )a should have also been
approved. This amendment would have established a maximum height
1 of five feet for all on-premise signs despite the zoning
district. Therefore, the attached ordinance reflects a proposed
amendment to subparagraph (a) .
IRECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the ordinance as
I presented in Attachment #1 approving an amendment to Section
20-1255, (2 )c for second and final reading and Section 20-1255 ,
( 2 )a for both first and second readings .
IATTACHMENTS
II 1 . Proposed ordinance.
2 . Excerpt from staff report.
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CITY OF CHANHASSEN
CARVER AND HENNEPIN COUNTIES, MINNESOTA
ORDINANCE NO.
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 20 OF THE CHANHASSEN CITY CODE '
The City Council of Chanhassen ordains :
Section 1 . Section 20-1255 (2 )a is hereby amended as
follows:
a. On premise signs shall not be larger than four (4) square
feet. The maximum height of the sign shall not exceed
five (5) feet from the ground. The number of signs shall
not exceed four (4) unless approved by the City Council .
Section 2. Section 20-1255 ( 2 )c is amended as follows :
c. On premise signs for industrially zoned land in excess of
forty ( 40) acres shall not exceed twelve (12) square feet.
The maximum height of the sign shall not exceed five (5)
feet from the ground. The number of signs shall not
exceed four (4) unless approved by the City Council.
Section 3 . This ordinance shall become effective from and
after its passage and publication.
Passed and adopted by the City Council this 27th day of June,
1988 . '
Mayor I
Attest:
City Manager
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a (C I T Y 0 F CP.C. DATE: May 4 , 1988
\ 10 CHANHASSEN C.C. DATE: May 23 , 1988
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II
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,.....\ CASE NO:( ZOA 88-4
I ' . • Prepared by: Dacy/v
I STAFF REPORT
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PROPOSAL: Zoning Ordinance Amendment to Amend Section 20-1255
II ( 2 )a. On-Premise Directional Signs
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LOCATION:
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APPLICANT: Philip J. Martini
DataServ, Inc. . _ . 1-7
19001 Lake Drive East
II Chanhassen . MN 55317
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IPRESENT ZONING:
II ACREAGE:
DENSITY:
II ADJACENT ZONING
AND LAND USE: N-
1 5 S-
E-
1 gu- . w_
1 [Li WATER AND SEWER:
(I)
I PHYSICAL CHARAC. :
II2000 LAND USE PLAN:
II
DataSery ZOA
May 4 , 1988
Page 2 '
BACKGROUND
The Planning Commission considered a variance request for '
DataSery to permit the construction of 12 square foot directional
signs . The Planning Commission recommended denial at the January
20, 1988 , meeting. The City Council at the March 14, 1988 ,
meeting denied the variance request. Based upon the Planning
Commission and City Council comments, DataSery has submitted a
zoning ordinance amendment application to analyze the directional
sign requirement.
ANALYSIS
The intent of a directional sign is to provide direction for
pedestrian or vehicular traffic. Typically, directional signs do
not contain advertising signage. Section 20-1255 (2 ) dictates
that on-premise directional signs cannot exceed four square feet.
These are typically exemplified by "enter" or "exit" signs , e.g.
McDonalds directional signage or in the case of larger sites,
"employees parking" , "loading area" , or "visitor parking" . The
DataSery application was discussed in terms of whether or not a
larger industrial size property, in its case 69 acres, should
trigger larger directional signage.
Other communities regulate directional signs as follows :
Carver County - 4 square feet 1
Eden Prairie - No maximum number of signs but total area of signs
cannot exceed 32 square feet
Minnetonka - 4 square feet
Shakopee - 4 square feet
As is shown, four square feet is a typical size requirement. ,
Should the Planning Commission consider amending the ordinance,
it is recommended that the ordinance be amended to read solely
for industrial districts in excess of a fairly large acreage
threshold as proposed by the applicant. Amending the ordinance
to 12 square feet for all directional signage would not be
appropriate for establishments such as fast food restaurants or
other smaller commercial establishments that do not need larger
directional signage. Further, the size of the property of
smaller establishments is such that a larger sign would cause a
greater intrusion.
One can assume that the larger the sign size permitted for direc-
tional signs , the more opportunity there will be for advertising
or placement of the name of the company. The intent of the
directional sign should be maintained so that adveristing is not
permitted. Removing the area for "DataServ" on the sign would
mean a 9 square foot sign rather than a 12 square foot sign.
The rationale that the applicant is proposing is that the acreage
of the site would dictate a larger enterprise with larger number
DataSery ZOA
11 17
May 4 , 1988
Page 3
of employees . Thus a larger sign size is needed to direct traf-
fic. However, a larger sign size would be dictated if there is a
need to provide direction for several movements rather than to
' provide a larger sign for more employees .
If the Planning Commission feels that a larger sign size should
be permitted for large industrial parcels which would be occupied
by larger buildings with several access drives and turning move-
ments, 9 square feet can be appropriate. The applicant has pro-
posed a threshold of 40 acres . This would apply to not only the
DataSery site but to the McGlynn site and some of the larger par-
cels south of the railroad tracks in the Chanhassen Lakes
Business Park.
The Planning Commission also discussed that the ordinance lacked
a regulation regarding the height of a sign. The ordinance
should be clairified to provide for a maximum height. It is
' recommended that the maximum height of five feet be allowed.
This matches the maximum height permitted for ground low profile
business signs in the residential and neighborhood commercial
districts . This requirement would keep the sign from being
obtrusive.
RECOMMENDATION
Planning staff recommends the Planning Commission adopt the
following motion:
' "The Planning Commission recommends approval of Zoning Ordinance
Amendment Request #88-4 to amend Section 20-1255 ( 2 ) Directional
' Signs to read as follows:
a. On-premise signs shall not be larger than four ( 4 ) square
feet. The maximum height of the sign shall not exceed five
' ( 5 ) feet. The number of signs shall not exceed four ( 4 )
unless approved by the City Council .
' Should the Commission feel that a larger directional sign area
can be permitted for industrial districts only, the following
language is proposed:
c. On-premise signs for industrially zoned land in excess of
forty ( 40) acres shall not exceed twelve (12) square feet.
The maximum height of on-premise directional signs shall not
' exceed five ( 5 ) feet. The number of signs shall not exceed
four ( 4 ) feet unless approved by the City Council.
It should be noted that the sign would not permit identification
of the company name. Also, to clarify a previous question at the
Planning Commission meeting, the square footage of the sign is
measured by the perimeter of the extreme limits of the actual
DataSery ZOA
May 4 , 1988
Page 4 '
sign message surface and excludes any structural elements outside
the limits of the sign.
PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION ,
The first motion made by the Planning Commission was to amend
Section 20-1255( 2) to allow on premise directional signs for
industrial zoned land in an excess of 40 acres to not exceed 12
square feet. The maximum height of the sign would also not
exceed 5 feet from the ground. This motion failed with a vote
of 2 to 5 (Wildermuth and Headla voted in favor) .
The Planning Commission then made a motion to recommend approval
of Zoning Ordinance Amendment request #88-4 to amend Section
20-1255( 2 ) Directional Signs to read as follows :
a. On premise signs shall not be larger than four ( 4 ) square
feet. The maximum height of the sign shall not exceed
five ( 5) feet from the ground. The number of signs shall
not exceed four ( 4 ) unless approved by the City Council.
Wildermuth and Headla were opposed to this motion ( see attached
minutes) .
STAFF UPDATE '
The Planning Commission action reflected a majority of the
Commissioner' s belief that the ordinance did not need to be
changed to amend the sign size. The Commission did feel that it
was important to amend the ordinance to clarify the maximum
height of a directional sign ( the Planning Commission' s final
motion) .
The City Council needs to determine whether or not the direc-
tional signage for industrial districts should be increased. At
minimum, it is recommended that the Planning Commission' s recom-
mendation as to the maximum directional sign size height be
included in the Council action.
The original Planning Staff report in the analysis section
discussed a proposed maximum of 9 square feet and the recommen-
dation proposed 12 square feet. To clarify, Planning Staff' s
intent was to recommend a maximum size sign of 9 square feet in
industrially zoned areas . This was made clear to the Planning
Commission at the night of the meeting; however, we have left the
report as written to avoid further confusion. In any case,
Planning staff supports increasing the sign size in industrially
zoned areas over forty ( 40 ) acres . The attorney representing
DataSery has submitted a letter in response to the Planning
Commission action ( see Attachment #9) .
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