PORT ST. LUCIE \u2013 A recent request by the pastor of a Tulip Boulevard church for a larger LED sign than currently permitted by the city\u2019s Sign Code has reopened a conversation and controversy that City Council members here thought they\u2019d finally settled two years ago.<\/p>\n
Central Baptist Church Senior Pastor Nick Manzie inadvertently reopened that debate July 24 with an email request for the Council to amend its Sign Code to allow an LED sign up to 25 square feet in diameter and permit images as well as text. Not too many years back, city officials found themselves embroiled in a controversy between two Prima Vista Boulevard churches, one of which had purportedly erected an LED sign without a city permit, followed by the other requesting permission for just such a sign. That propelled Council members and staff into action, who also worried about compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court decision related to church signs and free speech. They thought the dust had finally settled on that issue in 2024 when they amended the Sign Code to limit LED signs to 20 square feet in diameter broadcasting text only. Pastor Manzie\u2019s email, however, led to an Aug. 10 discussion launched by Councilman Anthony Bonna.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe request was quite reasonable to me, so I just wanted to bring it to Council to see what the temperature of Council was,\u201d he said. \u201cEssentially, he\u2019s not asking for the monument to be any larger; it\u2019s just these LED panels are constructed in such a way that he would have to reduce the LED portion significantly, which would reduce the impact of his sign. The LED portion is currently allowed to be 20 square feet, so simply by increasing that to 24 square feet we can address that. There may be similar requests in the future, and it might make sense to make the code compatible with how these panels are constructed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilman Bonna was referring to part of Manzie\u2019s email that spoke of a significant size limitation in current LED sign choices. The pastor insisted he needed more space to advertise the churches annual events since the city forced him to stop using large banners for that purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur church has been seeking quotes for various LED signs,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe were told that \u2013 according to the statute \u2013 we could only have a 20-square-foot LED sign displaying text only. The LED screen we would like to purchase is 88.2 inches by 37.7 inches, or 23.09 square feet. To comply with the code, we would need to select the next smaller size, which would be 15.44 square feet. I would loose a dramatic amount of space all because of how LED signs are made. I respectfully request that we adjust the code to allow 25 square feet and permit pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Attorney Richard Berrios then provided the Council his initial legal guidance on that request.<\/p>\n
\u201cUpon first review, it looks like it would be a comprehensive amendment to the code to allow for a larger square footage,\u201d he said. \u201cAlternatively, there might be some other paths from staff they might have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilman David Pickett initially thought Central Baptist might proceed with the larger sign in the interim, but the city attorney shot that idea down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have to change the code first,\u201d Berrios explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is the pastor\u2019s ETA on putting the sign in?\u201d Councilman Pickett asked.<\/p>\n
Councilman Bonna tackled that question.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re looking to do it soon, but they\u2019ve been a part of the community for a long time and they want to work through our processes,\u201d he said. \u201cMy preference would be to change the code and not look for a work-around and do it as soon as possible. The other thing he would like to do \u2013 which may be more controversial \u2013 is have some imagery in his LED display.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Martin, who was vice-mayor during those earlier conversations immediately hit the brakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were reasons why that was done that way,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to go back and relook at that, especially as it related to the Reed v. Gilbert case. \u201cI think this is a two-prong thing, but I believe there are distinct reasons why we didn\u2019t allow the imagery portion of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vice-Mayor Jolien Caraballo also took part in that earlier LED discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot more than just imagery,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was also concern with light pollution, but LEDs have changed. We even utilize LED in some of our signage, so I think there is an opportunity to relook at where technology is and Reed vs Gilbert. I would like a comprehensive discussion and then make the changes on the Sign Code that we can come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan, in turn, described the prior church controversy that led to the earlier Sign Code changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis came up because the Methodist Church on Prima Vista placed an LED sign without a permit,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThen, St. Andrews across the street wanted to construct one but was told they couldn\u2019t. So, it was like, how do we fix this? It was not even two years ago that we changed it to allow for that, and it was for messaging only.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilman Bonna still sought a timetable from staff, with Berrios acknowledging he would need input from Planning & Zoning officials as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would definitely need to coordinate with staff and have an understanding of what the appetite is,\u201d he said. \u201cSquare footage seems simple in concept, but I don\u2019t want to rummage around in the code without talking to them first and understanding the background.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assistant Planning & Zoning Director Anne Cox then provided the formal framework.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said you\u2019d like to workshop it first,\u201d she said. \u201cThen, if the language is agreed to, it\u2019s a zoning text amendment. It would have to go to the Planning & Zoning Board and then two readings at Council.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s going to take a few months then,\u201d Mayor Martin responded.<\/p>\n
Councilman Bonna, in turn, insisting on separating the discussions on size and images so as not to logjam the pastor\u2019s request. Vice-Mayor Caraballo agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the second piece of it\u2019s going to be more complicated,\u201d she said. \u201cThe way I see it in Reed v. Gilbert, once we allow images, we won\u2019t be able to discriminate against additional images. So, I think that\u2019s going to be the challenge. I agree with separating the issues, but I would like to see where we\u2019re currently at with best practices looking at the top largest cities and the size of signs with LEDs as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council members and staff then suggested holding the workshop that same month, but the Aug. 17 workshop was subsequently canceled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2013 A recent request by the pastor of a Tulip Boulevard church for a larger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-374262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}