Plano would stop allowing new pole signs anywhere in the city under a top-to-bottom rewrite of its sign rules that the City Council takes up at a public hearing Monday, Nov. 9.
The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the rewrite 7-0 on Oct. 19. The case, which replaces Article 22 of the zoning ordinance in full, is paired with a second ordinance that strips the temporary sign rules out of the city's code of ordinances so they can live in the zoning ordinance instead. Staff say the two items must move together.
Why the city is rewriting it
According to the staff report, U.S. Supreme Court rulings, including Reed v. Town of Gilbert and City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, bar most sign rules that depend on what a sign says. Plano's current categories require reading a sign's message to decide which rule applies, the report says.
The new version regulates only when, where and how a sign is put up, though it still treats commercial and noncommercial messages, and on-site and off-site advertising, differently, as the courts allow.
Staff also cite state law on nonconforming signs and repeated variance requests. The sign update is separate from the city's larger zoning code rewrite.
What would change
- Pole signs: New ones would be prohibited citywide, following commission direction from September 2025. Existing pole signs could stay and change their copy but could not be expanded.
- Monument signs: Height and copy area would be set by the type of road the sign faces, with larger signs allowed along bigger, faster roads. Bases could be no more than a third of the cabinet's height and must span more than half its width.
- Measuring sign area: Copy or cabinet area could be traced with up to eight straight lines at right angles, replacing a method that cut the allowed area by 10% for each extra rectangle used. Monument bases would no longer count toward sign area.
- Lighting near homes: Illuminated signs facing and within 300 feet of residential lots would be barred unless they sit above a business's main entrance or are fully screened by another building. Staff added a change after the commission vote so signs for neighborhood uses such as elementary schools and churches can still be lit.
- Temporary signs: Residents holding garage sales, open houses or similar events could post up to four signs of 8 square feet each, on private property with the owner's permission, for no more than seven days in total. Signs would stay out of the right of way and the strip between curb and sidewalk. Businesses would get up to three banner permits a year, six weeks each.
- Political signs: On city property used as a polling place, signs could be no larger than 4 square feet or taller than 42 inches, could go up a day before voting starts and must come down within three days after it ends.
