MOULTRIE, Ga. — A new sign ordinance expected to be considered Tuesday will allow for larger signs but will limit them in different zoning areas.

Moultrie City Council enacted a moratorium on new signs in September to allow time for the city attorney to craft the new ordinance, which was revealed at the council’s Jan. 21 meeting. Conversation over the topic lasted less than a minute.

City Manager Pete Dillard said everything that needed to be said was already on the table.

“Everybody had their technical questions then,” he said. “Our attorney and their attorney are satisfied with it.”

The “their” Dillard is referring to is New South Media, an advertising media company who applied for nine signs of varying size before the Sept. 24 moratorium. 

A majority of the signs New South Media sought did not comply with the city’s current sign ordinance, but with the threat of legal action, they asked the city to reevaluate it. And so, it did.

Following an analysis of multiple studies, city traffic flow and accident records, the city council moved to amend the Moultrie Zoning Ordinance as it relates to signs.

As this amendment states, its purpose is “to establish standards for the fabrication, erection, use, maintenance, placement and alteration of signs within the city.” It’s designed to protect the city and encourages economic viability, creativity, and traffic safety all while avoiding “an environment that encourages visual blight.”

As it relates to New South Media’s needs, the changes to the ordinance include those to brightness limits, sign area, and height.

Under the new ordinance, signs in the downtown area can be 24 feet for a single tenant, or 32 feet when it’s shared by multiple tenants. Currently, permanent signs can be only 4 or 6 square feet; temporary signs can be up to 32 square feet.

Outside of downtown, signs can be up to 120 square feet, whether used by single or multiple tenants.

Signs at the entrance to residential communities have a 24-square-foot cap, however.

The new ordinance also changes the heights that some signs can be. The current law says signs in downtown can be up to 4 feet high, while those everywhere else can be 20 feet or the height of the building they’re on, whichever is less. 

Under the new ordinance, downtown signs can be up to 7 feet high, signs along the highways can be 20 feet high or the height of the building they’re on, signs at the entrances to residential communities can be up to 5 feet high, and signs elsewhere can be up to 9 feet high.

The brightness of illuminated signs shouldn’t exceed 30 foot candles at any one point of the sign, the proposed ordinance reads. It must also be shielded to only allow brightness to only illuminate the sign’s surface area and shouldn’t interfere with the “safe vision” of all roadway users.

Color lamps for external signage lighting is not permitted. Signs must also come in standard geometrical shapes or sponsor motifs under the new ordinance.

The ordinance has not been approved yet. It will receive a third reading at the Feb. 4 city council meeting and, if approved, will take effect afterward.