Columbus officials to discuss sign ordinance

Columbus city officials will be addressing the city’s sign ordinance on Monday. The Bartholomew County Plan Commission is meeting at 8:30 to discuss it. The city plan commission meets at 1 p.m. and the city council meets at 2 p.m. All three meetings will be held at City Hall.

Jeff Bergman, City-County Planning Director, says the bodies are meeting to address changes needed after a recent Supreme Court decision. He explains that Reed vs. Town of Gilbert, which was decided in 2015, had significant implications for sign regulation nationwide. The suit specifically dealt with temporary direction signs for a church and the fact that the town treated treated non-commercial differently, depending on what they were for.

Bergman says the proposed changes focus only on the language and methods used to regulate signs. He says that there are no changes to the allowed number, height or area of signs for businesses.