The Wellington Village Council on Tuesday, April 12 gave preliminary approval to an ordinance amending the village’s sign code to comply with new case law regulations.
Planning, Zoning & Building Director Tim Stillings said the ordinance addresses recent court rulings that require signs to be content neutral to avoid being unconstitutional.
“This update assures that the regulations focus on location, size and number of signs,” he said. “It has also been reorganized and restructured to stand on its own in the event of a legal challenge, and a section on a sign permit process has also been included in this chapter so that all aspects of the sign regulations are within one spot.”
Vice Mayor John McGovern said he felt allowing window signs to cover 50 percent of the window area on storefronts was too much.
“Personally, I think that is too much and is becoming potentially abused in areas of the village,” McGovern said, explaining that a portion of the ordinance states that multiple storefront windows can be considered one window. “If someone has eight windows, they can cover the entirety of four. I think that is unlike any other sign anywhere described in this code section in regard to the size… and I don’t think it’s intended. I won’t vote for this unless this sentence is removed.”
He asked that the change be made before the second and final reading of the ordinance.
Stillings said the clause had always been the code, but it was moved to this section to make it clearer, adding that some businesses have been before the Architectural Review Board asking for more than 50 percent. He added that the Planning, Zoning & Adjustment Board had recommended approval.
McGovern also had issues with the limitation of 30 days before an election on the amount of time political signs can be placed in residential yards.
“Particularly in an election where a significant number of voters — and more than half of our voters in the last election voted by mail — under this provision, you’re not allowed to put a yard sign in your yard when ballots are in someone’s hands, because ballots are mailed out significantly before 30 days prior to the election,” he said. “At any point in time that any voter has a ballot, one should be allowed to campaign to that voter.”
Councilman Michael Napoleone made a motion to approve the first reading of the ordinance with the changes offered that evening to be incorporated by the second reading, which passed 4-1 with McGovern opposed.
In other business, the council approved master plan amendments for the Blue Cypress area of the Palm Beach Polo community to modify about 28.25 acres in three pods of the partially completed development.
The amendments modify the unit type in pod 65B from zero lot line to single family zero lot line, reduce the number of dwelling units from 140 to 136, decreasing the density from 4.99 dwelling units per acre to 4.82, and transfer 56 units from the 4.63-acre tract B to the 1.42-acre tract G-1 immediately north, leaving 14 units in tract B.
Stillings said the original site plan approved in 2000 was for 140 dwelling units. In 2007, a development order was approved to transfer 14 dwelling units from Blue Cypress pod 65B to Cypress Island pod 68A.
“There have been changes to 65B over the years,” Stillings said. “There was a change reducing the density from 140 [dwelling units] to 136. The request is changing the unit type, it was originally assigned to zero lot line, but they’re introducing single family into this particular tract, and the unbuilt units are being transferred to another pod, and because it’s more than 30 percent of the units within the receiving pod, the council is required to approve that.”
The Planning, Zoning & Adjustment Board recommended approval at its meeting on March 9. Village staff recommended approval, and the Palm Beach Polo Property Owners Association submitted a letter in support of the application.
McGovern made a motion to approve the resolution, which carried 5-0.
