Label
Zoning & Planning Committee
Title
Amending Toledo Municipal Code (TMC), Part Eleven, Subsection 1103.0200, Downtown Overlay District, to include signage regulations; and declaring an emergency.
Body
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
The proposed text amendment to TMC?1103.0205 - Design Guidelines, is intended to add text regarding additional building signs in the Downtown Overlay District (DOD). Currently TMC?1103.0205(H) does not provide specific location criteria for additional building signs for ground floor tenants and/or occupants. In order to increase pedestrian streetscape visibility, the proposed text amendment will require additional building signs to be located between the first floor door or window lintel and the second floor windowsill. A copy of the proposed text amendment language is included as Exhibit "A".
As mentioned in previous Downtown Toledo Master Plans (i.e. 2002), Design Guidelines for signs can help create a positive identity for individual businesses and a unified image for Downtown. Design Guidelines from the 2002 Downtown Toledo Master Plan included sign components such as size, location, materials, color, message and illumination. The proposed regulations are intended to protect the architectural character of the buildings in downtown as well as reduce the potential visual clutter from an overabundance of signage which could detract from the city skyline and the overall aesthetic of Downtown Toledo.
PLAN COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION
The staff recommends that the Toledo City Plan Commission recommend approval of the text amendment modification of TMC?1103.0200 Downtown Overlay District, to include signage regulations, to the Planning and Zoning Code as shown in Exhibit "A", to the Toledo City Council for the following two (2) reasons:
1. The proposed text amendment corrects an inconsistency in the Zoning Code where the location of additional building signage for tenants and/or occupants is not specified within the Downtown Overla...
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