GREEN COVE SPRINGS – The City Council took the first step on Tuesday night to simplify its restrictions on garages and signs.

The council agreed, 5-0, to remove the ordinance that requires each dwelling to have a garage and to better define a sign. After easily moving through the first readings of both ordinance changes, they set Sept. 1 as the next date for public discussion and a final vote.

Currently, all new homes and remodeled homes are required to have a garage. If passed in September, those mandates would be removed. It also would allow a homeowner to convert a garage into a spare room.

“I brought this up because I live in a house, a Victorian house,” said Mayor Darren Stutts. “It doesn't have a garage. If it was to burn down, I couldn't rebuild it without putting a new modern garage on it. I just felt like it was a little bit of an oversight.

“I'm a firm believer that you have property rights, and you should be able to do things on your property the way you want in situations like this.”

The council also agreed the current codes that define signs needed to be clarified, especially sections that cover temporary and removable signs.

A downtown business owner approached the council on March 3, saying temporary and removable signs are critical for small business visibility if the signs support economic activity without creating clutter or harming the city’s historic character. The city council agreed and asked staff to update the code.

Staff decided:

• Banners, feather signs, flags or portable signs designed to move with the wind will be considered a banner, not a flag. Banner signs are considered temporary and portable, while national flags and flags of political subdivisions are considered flags.

• Murals painted on the sides of businesses are intended as public art as long as they don’t have commercial advertising or promotional messaging.

• The Service Development Office also created rules that define the number of signs, along with their dimensions, for each property.

• To limit the use of temporary signs to 90 days.

• Signs are not allowed on public right of ways.

In other business:

• The council approved an Interlocal Agreement between Clay County and the city for the city’s use of designated Disaster Debris Management Sites.

• The council also read proclamations honoring the city’s electric linemen and for the 100^th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Green Cove Springs.