Staff Recommendation

Approve the amendments as shown in Exhibits A, B, C & D

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MPC staff received a letter, dated December 14, 2010, from the City of Knoxville administration requesting that MPC develop regulations for on-premise wayfinding signage. Recent cases before the City Board of Zoning Appeals indicate there is a need in the zoning ordinance to permit and properly regulate one or more on-premise signs that are incidental to primary use of the property and provide directions and information on large lots with campus-style development.

ANALYSIS
Sign codes found in many cities contain lists of signs that are: 1) exempt from the need for a permit to allow installation, and 2) exempt from the regulations that may apply to other signs on a property. These ?exempt? signs often include directional, information and on-premise directory signs, with dimensional requirements established in the definition of the sign, or as a part of the exemption section. The City of Knoxville sign code has no such section.

In the City?s sign code there is a reference to traffic control signs at Article V, Section 10. A. 11, wherein a traffic control sign is allowed on a site with a maximum sign area of nine (9) square feet and a maximum height of 3 feet. There is no definition of a traffic control sign and no context for its use.

Elsewhere is the City?s sign code, at Article V, Section J. 1, there is a provision for a single sign in a parking lot with maximum sign area of nine (9) square feet for an exit or entry sign and an additional sign in a parking lot of up to twelve (12) square feet for an informational sign.

STRATEGY
The City sign code should allow the use of a comprehensive package of signs to direct vehicles and pedestrians to and from facilities located on large, campus-style developments without the need to pursue and obtain approval of variances.

There currently is no separate section in the City?s sign code, as is found in many sign codes, for signs that are exempt from regulations or for signs that are prohibited in the city. To reorganize the entire sign code to provide for such sections is warranted, but that is not what has been requested.

The provision in the City?s sign code for the master sign plan, if reorganized, provides a model for the treatment of signs as a comprehensive package on developments that are large in scale. An amendment to the master sign plan regulations allowing a development directory sign within the private street is also proposed.

The proposed regulations for incidental signs on large tracts are similar to the approach for a master sign plan. Such a provision could require the submittal and approval by City staff of a site plan showing all incidental signs proposed for a site.

The current regulations for traffic control signs and parking lot signs need to stay in place for use on sites that do not qualify as large sites as proposed in Exhibit B. However, these provisions should be amended for clarity and dimensions as shown in Exhibit D.

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Disposition Summary

Approve the amendments as shown in Exhibits A, B, C & D