St. Cloud Planning Commission Considers New Yard Sign Rules

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud residents who want to voice their opinions with a sign in their yard may have some new rules to follow.

The St. Cloud Planning Commission held a public hearing Tuesday night to add a substitution clause for non-commercial messages to the Land Development Code. City staff is recommending allowing up to one sign no bigger than five square feet in a residential zone.

The exception would be political signs during election season, which is regulated by state law.

FREE SPEECH CONCERNS

Planning Director Matt Glaesman says they are not trying to regulate free speech, just make it more uniform.

So the substitution clause is meant to do just that, to say that whether you say this or that, you are subject to the same bulk number, size, and regulation.

Commissioner Sheila DeVine asked Glaesman about the enforcement of signs that some might find offensive.

(Devine): What if it becomes an inappropriate message? (Glaesman): That bar is high. We've had messages that we have received complaints about, and very few, if any of those, have reached that bar.

Commissioner Clare Richards asked Deputy City Attorney Kevin Voss how this might impact parents who want to brag about their kids.

(Richards): Let's say you have three kids and all three go to different schools, and you want to put the "My Kids Go To..." signs in your yard, would you have to pick one of those schools? (Voss): Well, it would be one sign that you could have, so we would limit it to the one sign.

Voss says enforcement would start with a notice of violation that would be sent out by the city, which would be followed up by a citation, and there would also be an appeals process.