Holiday decorations and hours of operation are among the types of signs that businesses and private property owners can freely display in Solvang without a city permit.
Distinguishing between what kinds of signage is under the Solvang Design Review Committee’s (DRC) purview and what might be exempt from the city’s upcoming sign ordinance update has been a focal point during the committee’s recent hearings.
At the DRC’s Aug. 21 meeting, Community Development Director Rafael Castillo followed up with its members about their disagreement with city staff’s recommendation to exempt art murals on private property from the ordinance.
Solvang’s current municipal code doesn’t regulate murals.
“City staff recommends that you don’t enter into that arena for various reasons, particularly when it comes to free speech,” Castillo told the committee at its June 18 meeting, after DRC Chair Esther Jacobsen Bates requested to remove murals from the exempt list and explore potential future regulations.
“I would like to have input on content. I don’t know how that applies with art murals; our attorney would have to fill us in. But I do think it’s really important that it be coming in front of the committee,” Bates said. “I know it is potentially fraught with some First Amendment requirements or limitations, but I do think it’s really important that we regulate that.”
City Attorney Dave Fleishman weighed in on the topic and told the DRC that the city could regulate certain mural features, including location and color scheme.
“Those are the kinds of things you can regulate. Going into content, … what one person may think is appropriate for a mural, other people may not think is appropriate,” Fleishman said. “We have to be very careful about that.”
After the DRC reached a consensus to cross murals off the exempt list, Castillo said he would work with Fleishman and other city staffers to bring back options on how to proceed with mural regulations.
When Castillo revisited the topic at the board’s Aug. 21 meeting, he presented a list of qualifiers that would exempt a proposed art mural from city oversight.
“What we’ve crafted is a whole exemption section for murals. … If you meet the criteria for a mural, you are exempt. You’ll still need to fill out an application and be reviewed [by the Planning Department], … to somewhat regulate it but at the same time stay out of the First Amendment issues,” Castillo said. “We’re going to recommend no [application] fee on it, because, again, originally, we’re just looking to make sure you check all the boxes. And with art being so objective, we just don’t want to go there.”
Bates said she’d still prefer for mural applications to come before the DRC rather than solely the Planning Department.
“I really feel strongly that murals aren’t an over-the-counter permit,” Bates said.
She also recommended that staff “beef up” the mural criteria to include “potentially noticing neighbors of this coming in and allowing a period for feedback, which often really does help if there’s any content that might not be as broadly viewed as positive.”
Castillo said that staff’s suggested mural criteria was crafted with inspiration from other cities’ policies, and one of its goals is not to “encumber something to go to a public meeting and to do a public notice and to argue about art. … It brings out the worst in people.”
“The minute this comes to a board, you are asking it to go sideways. You are inviting it to go sideways. … This isn’t about city property, this is regulating private property,” he told the DRC. “[By] the same token, the planning director has the discretion to always elevate it to this body if it needs to.”
The DRC’s effort to gather input on Solvang’s upcoming sign ordinance update will conclude at its next meeting in September.
Castillo thanked the board “for sparring on murals” and added that staff will “bring some of those things back, and ultimately in the end we’ll package this all up to both the Planning Commission and City Council for ultimate direction.”
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 7, 2025.
I get paid over 220 Dollar per hour working from home with 2 kids at home. i never thought i’d be able to do it but my best friend earns over 15k Dollar a month doing this and she convinced me to try. the potential with this is endless…,
Here is I started_____ EarnApp1.Com