Last Tuesday’s joint meeting between the City Council and the Planning Commission approved expansion of the Cultural District Zoning area. (See map above.) It also approved changes to the city’s sign ordinance.
Cultural Overlay District Expansion
San Angelo currently has a small area zoned Cultural District (CD) surrounding the Museum of Fine Arts, and this move is an expansion of that zoning.
The idea behind the Cultural District Zoning is to provide protection and preservation an area of cultural or historical importance. The District includes Fort Concho, Santa Fe Depot, the Museum of Fine Arts, the River Stage and the Concho River corridor.
Zoning Complements Cultural Arts District
A Cultural Arts District designation for roughly the same area as the new overlay district already exists. It was established by the art museum and approved by the Texas Commission for the Arts. While the two districts complement each other, the expansion of this overlay district does not impact the cultural arts district for the area.
Current zoning of this area includes a large number of different zoning classifications. These are residential, general commercial, heavy commercial, light manufacturing, neighborhood commercial, planned development.
It expands the current CD zoning to mirror the larger Cultural Arts District and provide additional protection for that area.
Permitted Uses
The following uses will now be permitted anywhere within the CD zoning classification:
- General Commercial (CG)
- Neighborhood Commerical (NC)
- Office Warehouse (OW)
- Office Commercial (OC)
- Residential Multi-Family-1
Existing properties zoned Heavy Commercial (CG/CH) and Light Manufacturing (ML) will be allowed to keep their current use. But if there is a break in use for two years the property would fall under the new CD zoning.
The following uses will now be permitted without requesting a zone change or variance:
Short-term rentals
- Artisan manufacturing
- Converting a residential structure to commercial use.
The ordinance also provides restrictions on outdoor storage and imposes screening requirements. These requirements will vary depending on the use of the property.
Sign Ordinance
A moratorium on enforcement of the city’s sign ordinance’s distinction between on-site and offsite signs has been in place since 2020 because of litigation over a similar ordinance used by the City of Austin.
In 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in City of Austin vs. Reagan National Advertising, which held that a sign ordinance regulating signs differently depending on whether they were on-site advertising or off-site advertising did not violate the Constitution.
On-site is when the sign is advertising goods or services that are for sale at that location. Off-site is a sign advertising goods or services that are not being sold where the sign is located.
The moratorium on enforcement of the sign ordinance is being lifted in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. Now signs will only be classified as freestanding, portable or temporary.
Billboards
Billboards are defined as any freestanding sign of more than 250 sq. ft. in size. It can be either a static message or electronic. Heights will be regulated by the road classification of the location: local, arterial, collector or freeway.
They will not be permitted within 125 feet of a residential district boundary line. Billboards are also required to have a 500-foot buffer zone from another billboard on the same side of the roadway.
In addition, electronic billboards can have no more than one-pane-per-side and have an illumination dimming requirement if they are within 125 feet of a residential-district boundary. Messages must be static for a minimum of eight seconds and change within two seconds or less on the entire face of the sign.
Electronic Message Signs
Electronic message signs that are under 75 sq. ft. in area will only be required to meet the same standards as other freestanding signs.
Signs that are over 75 sq. ft. in area must remain static for 8 seconds and change within two seconds like electronic billboards. Signs must be equipped with automatic dimmers and have a maximum brightness of 7000 nits during the day time and 1000 nits at night. If the sign is located within 250 feet of a residential district, then that requirement is reduced to 250 nits at night.
A nit is a unit used to measure the brightness of electronic displays. It is equivalent to one candle per square meter.
Sign heights will be limited to:
- Local and collector streets – 25 feet
- Arterial streets – 45 feet
- Freeways and designate U.S. Highways – 50 feet
Overlay Districts
Billboards will not be permitted in the City’s overlay districts. These are the River Corridor, Cultural, Downtown and Historic District. No variances can be allowed for billboards in these districts.
No free-standing signs will be allowed to exceed 30-feet in height, 75 sq.-ft.
Both ordinance changes will have to be approved on a second reading at the next City Council meeting scheduled for May 5, 2025.
