title
BUTLER DEVELOPMENT MASTER SIGNAGE PLAN (B)
Ordinance No. 140501, Petition PB-14-106 PDA
An ordinance of the City of Gainesville, Florida, adopting a Master Signage Plan to regulate signage within the Butler Development, a Planned Development (PD) zoning district that consists of approximately 267 acres generally located north of SW Archer Road, south of SW 24th Avenue, east of SW 40th Boulevard, and west of SW 34th Street; providing for enforcement; providing a severability clause; providing a repealing clause; and providing an immediate effective date.
recommendation
The City Commission adopt the proposed ordinance.
explanation
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT STAFF REPORT
This ordinance will adopt a Master Signage Plan to regulate signage within the Butler Development, a Planned Development (PD) zoning district that consists of approximately 267 acres generally located north of SW Archer Road, south of SW 24th Avenue, east of SW 40th Boulevard, and west of SW 34th Street. On November 21, 2013, the City Commission adopted Ordinance No. 121108 rezoning Butler Development to PD. PD is a zoning district that may be adopted with customized land development regulations, such as a unified signage plan. The customized regulations are intended to promote and address unique and innovative development that is not provided for in the Land Development Code, but is nevertheless consistent with and promoted by the City of Gainesville Comprehensive Plan and is otherwise in accordance with law. Accordingly, Butler Development PD Ordinance No. 121108 included certain custom signage regulations but also included a provision that allows the Developer to submit, as it is now doing, a Master Signage Plan in lieu of the PD signage regulations, subject to review and approval by the City Commission. The standards by which the City Commission must review this Master Signage Plan are outlined below in the City Attorney memorandum and are the same for any signage regulations included in a PD.
The Butler Development Master Signage Plan proposes signage that exceeds the current parameters of the City's adopted sign code. A table included in the backup compares the proposed Master Signage Plan to: 1) the City's adopted sign code, 2) the current signage entitlements under Butler Development PD Ordinance No. 121108, and 3) Alachua County's Transit Oriented Development (TOD) sign regulations adopted in coordination with the Celebration Pointe development. In addition, the backup includes a Planning Staff report that describes the unique size, location and complexity of the overall Butler PD Development and analyzes the Butler Development Master Signage Plan and how it will regulate signage within the PD in a unique and innovative manner that is consistent with the purpose and objectives of the PD zoning district as well as the Comprehensive Plan.
On October 23, 2014, the City Plan Board held a public hearing and provided comments regarding the Butler Development Master Signage Plan.
CITY ATTORNEY MEMORANDUM
When adopting signage regulations, and specifically when adopting signage regulations for a particular PD, the City Commission must base its review and approval on several legal criteria. Section 163.3202, Florida Statutes, requires each municipality to adopt and enforce signage regulations. However, unlike general zoning regulations that are presumed to be constitutional as long as such regulations are adopted with a rational basis (i.e., low legal scrutiny), the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution places a greater burden on governments when adopting signage regulations. As such, governments may only adopt signage regulations that are reasonable and narrowly tailored to directly promote substantial government interests, which for signage regulations courts have found to be preserving and protecting the public safety, aesthetic qualities, and economic vitality of a community. In addition, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires governments, generally, to treat similarly situated classes of individuals the same unless the government has a rational basis for differential treatment.
In addition to the constitutional and statutory framework outlined above, the City's Land Development Code also provides criteria for the City Commission's consideration when adopting signage regulations for a PD. Sections 30-213 and 30-214 allow signage regulations to be included within a PD if such signage regulations are promoted by the Comprehensive Plan and are unique and innovative and/or take into account specialized design characteristics to preserve and protect neighborhood character, environmental concerns and other concerns unique to the immediate area.
In sum, the City Commission may adopt this ordinance if it finds that the Master Signage Plan: 1) is reasonable and narrowly tailored to promote public safety, aesthetic qualities, and economic vitality, 2) is promoted by the Comprehensive Plan and, as compared to the City's general signage regulations, is unique and innovative and/or designed to preserve and protect neighborhood character, environmental concerns and other concerns unique to the immediate area, and 3) does not treat similarly situated classes of individuals, if any, differently without a rational basis to do so.
This ordinance requires two hearings and shall become effective immediately upon adoption at second reading.