A proposed amendment to New Ulm’s zoning concerning temporary signs was dropped by the city council Tuesday. The council chose not to proceed with passing an amendment out of concerns it would create greater confusion and have unintended consequences for event promotions. The corner of Broadway and Center Street is well-known for displaying temporary signs. City staff could not say for certain the property would not be impacted by the amendment. Staff photo by Clay Schuldt

NEW ULM – The proposed temporary sign ordinance was dropped from consideration by the New Ulm City Council, Tuesday.

The council was set to approve the second consideration of the temporary sign ordinance, but decided not to move forward with it.

New Ulm Council President Andrea Boettger said she appreciated the work staff took in drafting the amendment but was worried it would have an unintended impact.

“I don’t know that people in the community are going to understand these changes very well,” she said. “I feel like it is going to drive a lot of staff calls and as I dig into this, I think it is a little bit unnecessary.”

She said there were community organizers who were afraid they would not be able to promote their event with this amendment in place.

“I have never received a phone call about signage complaints,” Boettger said. “In fact, I’ve got more communication about confusion over this ordinance.”

Boettger was also reluctant to pass the amended ordinance with two city councilors absent. Councilor David Christian and Tom Schmitz were not at the meeting. She suggested tabling the amendment and have staff review if the amendment is necessary.

Councilor Eric Warmka said he shared Boettger’s concerns. The comments he received and saw online suggested most people did not want these changes because it could negatively impact advertising for civic events.

Mayor Kathleen Backer asked if this amendment would impact the banner signs seen at Center and Broadway.

City Planner John Knisley said the amendment could impact the Center and Broadway property depending on the size of the signs and how many signs are there at one time. The amendment allowed for 32 square feet of temporary signage beyond what is already allowed on the property. A single 8-foot by 4-foot banner sign would meet that limit.

How long the sign is up is another factor. Under the amendment, temporary signs are limited to one continuous 30-day period in any four months. This means a single sign could only be up for a month.

Knisley said the reason for the temporary sign amendment was to provide more guidance. Recently, the city received complaints about certain temporary signage around town. The amendment was designed to give the city clear regulations if future complaints came through.

The general idea of the regulation was to allow temporary signage over base sign ordinance in the code. Knisley said businesses and residents have a certain amount of allowed permanent signage. The temporary signage amendment allowed businesses and residents to go beyond the base allotment.

Knisley said staff looked into adding a provision to allow signs advertising civic or community events, however city attorneys advised against this because the city cannot regulate sign content.

New Ulm Building Inspector Ellwood Zabel said the current regulation for temporary signage is to calculate it with total signage allowed for the property with a 30 day limit. However, there is no four month requirement. This means a temporary sign could be up for 30-days, be taken down for a day, then put back up again for another 30 days.

City council members felt the current standards were sufficient for now. Warmka said he did not feel any more city time was needed to be spent on the ordinance.

No further action was taken on the proposed amendment. The previous regulations on temporary signs will remain in effect.