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On March 25, the City Council gave final approval to changes to the city’s sign ordinance that would allow directory signs for commercial areas housing multiple businesses.

The idea is to give businesses a boost by putting their names before the eyes of shoppers driving by. A staff report on the proposed changes contained eye-opening information on topics such as letter height, fonts and perception-response times. For example, an eight-inch-tall letter can be spotted from a city block away and gives a potential customer driving 35 mph about 6.4 seconds to respond.

On Monday, March 31, the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission will continue its discussion on temporary signs, such as real estate and A-frame signs, banners and the like.

The changes have been sought by the Urbandale Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber President David Russell, who recently took a seat on the Planning and Zoning Commission, said the organization’s request stemmed from a desire to get the city to loosen up a little on its traditionally conservative approach to signs. Russell did not vote on changes to the city’s ordinance on monument signs when they came before the commission.

“Urbandale always had a tough ordinance,” Russell said. “They really wanted to give the city a nice look. I think this compromise retains that.”

Changes to the monument and temporary sign ordinances were advocated by Russell’s predecessor, Jack Fries.