Planning and zoning commission discusses sign ordinance changes

By MALACHI MUNCY
Cove Leader-Press

The City of Copperas Cove Planning & Zoning Commission discussed the possibility of changing the city’s business district sign ordinance during a workshop before their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday.
“All sign variances go through this board,” said Charlotte Hitchman, city planner. “With all of the development on the east side of town there have been quite a few sign variance requests due to section 16.5-6b.”
According to the ordinance, an attached sign located at a height up to 36 feet or less shall be limited to two-and-one-half square feet of sign area for each linear foot of building frontage on a public street not to exceed 100 square feet.
There have been five variance requests since April of 2016.
“All of the requests have requested variance from that square footage--100 square feet,” said Hitchman. “Variance requests are typically supposed to be very difficult to get granted and when all of these requests are being granted, it tells city staff that it may be time to change the ordinance.”
In Killeen, the maximum sign size is 672 square feet. Harker Heights and Lampasas use percentages of the total wall space to determine the maximum size for a sign..
Ultimately, the board decided not to make any recommendation to Copperas Cove City Council as to whether to change the ordinance. 
Board members, Bob Martin and Adam Martin requested that the city planner bring the board some visual aids to see what the bigger signs in Killeen and the surrounding area look like. 
The board will discuss the issue again in workshop before their next regular meeting on the fourth Tuesday of next month.
During the regular meeting the board voted for new chair person, Bob Martin, and vice chair, Rob Endter. The board also voted to rezone 922 Brookview Drive, from B-4 (commercial District) to R-2 (Two-Family Residential District). They also voted to rezone 409 Allen Street from R-1 (single-family Residential) to R-2 (Two-Family Residential).