Katy’s city council met on September 23 for a special workshop to discuss the city’s current sign ordinance. The meeting was requested by Mayor Pro Tem Gina Hicks along with Councilmember At Large Paul Follis.

“I requested this workshop with Councilmember Follis because Katy’s existing ordinance is very restrictive, and we have received interest from schools, churches and local businesses that would like the ability to use modern digital signage,” Hicks said in a Facebook post prior to the meeting. “A business should not have to spend approximately $2,500 applying to amend its Planned Development District without first having a clear understanding of whether the City Council would even consider approving the request. Rather than addressing these applications one property at a time, I believe we should review the ordinance as a whole. We need to consider how technology has changed, listen to the requests we are receiving and discuss what reasonable standards and safeguards could look like.”

The current ordinance was created in 2008. Prior to that time, digital signs were already in place at Katy High School, 6331 Highway Blvd. and First Baptist Church of Katy at 600 Pin Oak, and those signs were “grandfathered” at the time of the ordinance.

A major proponent of an update to the ordinance is American Furniture Warehouse, located at 500 Pin Oak Road in Katy, near I-10. The store is seeking an upgrade to its existing signage to a “rapidly changing” digital sign that can display photos of products along with pricing. Under current regulations, American Furniture Warehouse’s existing sign must display a message that remains static for four hours.

American Furniture Warehouse spokesman Jacob Colby said that the firm’s Katy store underperforms, compared to other stores in the chain, and said that is due in part to the inability to promote products, using the kind of digital signs now in place at other locations. He also said that another factor in the store’s performance is that it does not face the freeway, making it less visible.

The Katy Area Chamber of Commerce is in support of an update to the sign ordinance and a statement from President and CEO Matthew Ferraro was sent to the mayor and council members on the day of the workshop. “Technology and the way businesses communicate with customers have evolved considerably,” the September 23 statement said. “At the same time, the Chamber recognizes the importance of protecting Katy’s identity and ensuring that any changes are implemented responsibly. Clear eligibility standards and operational requirements could allow the City to evaluate these interests together rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.”

The signage issue is also of interest to schools and churches in the community as well, with several wanting to upgrade their current signage to a digital option which would alleviate the task of changing marquee lettering by hand. During public comments Lindsey Brown, a PTA member from Robertson Elementary, said that changing the signs by hand was one of the least desirable jobs on campus. Brown said that according to her research, more than 50 of Katy ISD’s campuses now have digital signs, which

are used not only to communicate important information to parents but to raise funds through “birthday wishes” and other messages. None of the KISD campuses with Katy city limits have digital signs, she said. “There is a fine line between ‘quaint’ and ‘backward,’” Brown said.

Expanded use of signage by Katy ISD is already underway at other campuses, with the launch of the district’s new AdVantge program, which partners with businesses to display signage on school buses, inside venues such as the Merrell Center and which will soon offer the option of “street facing banners” on fences at campuses including Taylor High School and Tompkins High School, which are outside city limits. The AdVantage program is expected to create a new revenue stream for the district, officials previously said at a September 10 workshop with local businesses.

Councilmember Ward A Paula Taylor, who teaches at Katy High School where a digital sign is in place, said that signage message is not effective and that there were many other channels to communicate with parents, including text messages, Canvas and emails. Taylor also said that she had been told that the cost of the school signs, which exceeded $60,000 and questioned the return on investment of selling birthday messages on the signs as a fundraiser. “That money could be better used for students, teachers and other things,” she said.

Councilmember Ward B Michael Meihls expressed concern that court cases related to signage restructuring may need to be reviewed.

City attorney Bridgette Begle warned council members that any ordinance update must be neutral and could not favor institutions such as schools and churches while denying the same type of signage to any other property owner. Begel said that a new ordinance could address specific corridors or through zoning, among other factors.

City of Katy Mayor Dusty Thiele said that he approved of the current signage restrictions. “We don’t have to be the same as every other city out there,” Thiele said. “We can be Katy.”

During public comments, several citizens spoke against any change to the current ordinance. Sandy Schmidt, a lifelong resident of Katy and former First Lady of Katy and a former board member and chairman of Keep Katy Beautiful, said that the ordinance needed a thorough and comprehensive review and urged council members to drive along S. Mason and N. Fry to see the impact of little to no signage restrictions. “It’s a look we don’t want,” she said. The current ordinance was passed to protect the community from overbright signage and “Las Vegas style signage” that detracts from the hometown atmosphere of Katy, she said.

Former Mayor Skip Conner said that digital signs created distractions for drivers and could lead to more accidents, a point disputed by Councilmember Follis, a former law enforcement official, who said that his research did not reveal any specific links between digital signs and distracted driving incidents. Former City of Katy employee Kayce Reina Heinz said that there were other creative solutions for American Furniture Warehouse to boost revenue other than an LED sign, including static billboards, and she expressed her opposition to bright LED signage ion churches and schools in residential neighborhoods. Former mayoral and council candidate Michael Payne was also opposed to any change to the ordinance, citing concerns about light pollution.

No action was taken during the workshop.

Following the meeting, Councilmember Ward A Johnston Dietz called for unity in a post on Facebook.

“With an issue like this, there are a lot of things to balance,” Dietz said in the post. “We have longtime residents who care deeply about the community they helped build and want to protect what makes Katy special. We also have families, businesses, and investors who want to see Katy continue to grow and be a place where people want to live, raise their families, and do business. I don’t think we have to choose between those things. I think our job is to listen to both sides and work to find the right balance.”