The South Haven City Council has approved some amendments to the city ordinance governing signs.

At a meeting this week, council heard from zoning and legal staff about the Planning Commission’s lengthy review of the sign ordinance, specifically for non-permanent signs. Council member Joe Reeser explained the motivation for the review.

“The residents and residential communities are concerned because some of these short-term rental signs are in fact up for an indefinite period of time, some of them a couple of years,” Reeser said.

Reeser wondered if such a sign could still be considered non-temporary, or whether it could be considered permanent, and therefore regulated as such. The city attorney said defining a permanent sign that way could create issues.

“Trying to call out and regulate or prohibit short-term rental signs amounts to content-based discrimination and is going to land you in hot water regarding constitutional issues.”

The zoning amendment seeks to create parity between residential and non-residential districts in their treatment of non-permanent signs, protect free speech rights, preserve neighborhood character, and ensure compliance with court rulings. Among other things, the amendments distinguish between permanent and non-permanent signs based on how easy they are to remove and are affixed. The amendments also regulate signs by commercial and residential districts, and place size limits on non-permanent signs.

After much discussion, the council approved the changes noting how carefully the Planning Commission had to tread when drafting them.