Mooresville plan commission sends sign amendment back to town council

MOORESVILLE — The placement of signs was the only topic of discussion Thursday night at the monthly meeting of the Mooresville Plan Commission.

For more than a year, town officials and political leaders have been talking about the placement of signs in town rights-of-way.

During the 2020 Primary Election campaign cycle, political signs were removed from several areas of town property that had historically been used for advertising.

This included an island near the intersection of Indianapolis Road and Samuel Moore Parkway, as well as strips of grass in front of many local resident’s homes.

Back in May, Mooresville Town Councilman Dustin Stanley presented an amendment to the town’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to clear up some of the issues related to signage.

Stanley was a member of the council back in 2019 when the current UDO was approved.

Under the amendment, small yard signs like those often seen during an election cycle would be allowed ““in a right-of-way adjacent to private property that is maintained by that property owner or tenant and placed with permission of that owner or tenant.”

Governmental units like the parks or police departments could also place signs on property owned by the unit.

But, signs would be banned from features such as town-maintained flower beds and planters.

A public hearing on the amendment was held during Thursday’s plan commission meeting.

Libertarian Party of Morgan County Chairman Danny Lundy told the commission that he was present to speak in favor of the amendment.

“I think it addresses a lot of the flaws with the UDO while also keeping the intent, which was for the town to get rid of abandoned signage,” Lundy said.

Jessica Newman-Hoyt also spoke in favor of the amendment.

Newman-Hoyt said that the town “attempted” to remove a sign in a right-of-way near her home.

“(The sign) was in the landscaping beneath my mailbox,” Newman-Hoyt said.

She told members of the commission that the sign had been in the same spot for more than a year.

“It was a ‘Just Be Kind’ sign,” Newman-Hoyt added.

In her opinion, while the town owns the strip of grass near many residents’ homes, the homeowner should be able to place signs there because they maintain the land.

Eventually, Lundy returned to the microphone to express some of his concerns with the UDO as it currently stands.

Lundy noted that the town council has approved a large sign to be placed in an island near the intersection of Samuel Moore Parkway and Indianapolis Road.

The Mooresville Parks Department was allowed to place a moveable-letter sign and a local sorority was given permission to place signs at the intersection, according to Lundy.

“The fact that you have to ask permission to begin with, Indiana state law also says you can’t discriminate based on content,” Lundy said. 

He also added that the sign UDO is not being equally enforced on everyone.

“It is being enforced on signs they don’t like,” Lundy said. “And that is the problem.”

Mooresville Plan Commission Mike Young, after a lengthy back-and-forth discussion between Lundy and commission members, presented some suggestions that it could send to the town council.

The commission, Young noted, would like clarification on an application process of where an individual wanting to place a sign can ask permission in Mooresville.

Young said there also appears to be “gaps in the written requirements” in the UDO as it presently stands.

The commission also wants to make sure that the enforcement of the UDO as it pertains to signs is not discriminatory.

At the end of the meeting, the plan commission approved a motion to send the amendment back to the council to be rewritten to address the concerns that were brought up during the public hearing.

The plan commission will then, once those concerns are addressed, entertain the changes to the proposed amendment.

The motion was approved unanimously, 6-0.

While the plan commission can give either a favorable, unfavorable or no recommendation to the council, it is ultimately up to the town council for a final vote.

Post-meeting discussion

After the meeting was adjourned, and members of the public left the room, plan commission members continued to discuss the topic.

The discussion continued for at least an additional 19 minutes on a hot microphone that was broadcast to the town’s YouTube channel.

During that discussion, several members of the plan commission could be heard speaking about the matter in question.

However, due to a glitch on the video, it is unknown if a quorum of members was still present during the post-meeting discussion, but the audio can still be heard.

The next meeting of the Mooresville Plan Commission is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, at the Mooresville Government Center, 4 E. Harrison St.

~ By Lance Gideon | Reporter | Published June 10, 2021 in The Mooresville Times