CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETTIMG AGENDA PACKET 7-7-26

Page 3 of 4 for signs on Main Street, standards in the Downtown Revitalization District Ordinance (PMC Chapter 18.74). 3. Any applicable provisions specified in PMC Section 18.96 (Signs). The City's Sign Ordinance includes basic parameters as to the amount, size, placement, and lighting of signs (with such standards varying by Zoning District), but lacks strict, objective design parameters in many respects, particularly with regard to aesthetics (e.g., colors, materials, permissible lighting levels, amount of branding vs. non-branding components, etc.). The Sign Ordinance does not include a quantified standard for the amount of "bright franchise colors" that could be considered to meet the General Plan's policy intent to "minimize" their use. Staff notes that there is a wide range of existing examples and degrees of use of gas station franchise colors throughout Pleasanton, even within the same brand, ranging from minimal to much more extensive. As such, the SDR process involves some degree of subjectivity, wherein staff evaluates projects on a case-by-case basis through the review process, taking into account factors such as the location and visibility of the site, existing signage/sign conditions, and design/character of the buildings or structures on which the signage is being placed, nature of the use for which the signage is proposed, and character, type, and proximity of adjacent uses. The City must also consider the reasonable expectation or First Amendment right that a business may wish or be entitled to use its corporate colors, business identification, or branding as part of its signage program. As outlined in the Denial Letter (Attachment 2) and the Planning Commission agenda report (Attachment 4), it was staff's conclusion that, as designed, the proposed canopy would create an overly franchise-brand-forward visual emphasis that detracts from the intended Downtown entry character and does not reinforce the site’s relationship to the City’s broader aesthetic context and natural/visual setting. The proposed canopy color band is disproportionately large ( approximately 66 percent of the canopy height), altering the perceived scale and the canopy's emphasis when viewed from the public right-of-way. Rather than providing a balanced architectural feature that transitions appropriately with the streetscape at a Downtown gateway, the canopy reads as a dominant graphic/franchise branding element, which is also discouraged by General Plan Community Character Element Policy 16. Please refer to Attachments 2 through 6 for full project details, an overview of the SDR process, and governing General Plan policies and PMC standards related to SDR. CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA) The project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21080(b)(5) and CEQA Guidelines Section 15270, which statutorily exempts projects that a public agency intends to deny. Therefore, no additional environmental review is required. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION As outlined above, in the absence of a quantified standard in the Sign Ordinance, evaluation of the suitability of a specific sign design proposal involves some degree of subjectivity, based on site-specific conditions and considerations. Page 153 of 214