Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette Kurt Rickard, Andrew Lahti and Jonathon Nagel reviewed and debated details of the sign ordinance during the Hancock Planning Commission meeting Monday.

HANCOCK — The Hancock Planning Commission made adjustments to a city sign ordinance before sending it to the City Council for approval. At its meeting Monday, the commission fine-tuned details and reviewed the document’s language to ensure the ordinance was clear. The discussion of the sign ordinance was initiated by those in attendance during the public comment period.

Some wanted commission to ensure the rules regarding digital and electronically lit signs were concrete due to the desire to keep an historic aesthetic in the city and to limit light pollution. Many of those who had read the ordinances aid they were pleased with the amount of detail the sign ordinance contained and believe the ordinance addresses their concerns. Alan Salmi said areas in Colorado that cracked down on light pollution received increased tourism due to the dark skies they offer. “There are people that seek out dark skies, and we’ve got a dark sky park in Brockway Mountain,” Salmi said. “But why not look into claiming some of that tourism and such? There’s the possibility of people coming here, and what they do in Colorado, they have Airbnb, where there are telescopes that are part of the deal. That could bring some people up here. It could be another selling point for the Keweenaw and for the city, something to think about.”

Salmi said the standards for Dark Skies could be found on the International Dark Sky Association’s website. The commission combed through the ordinance and tightened up language and ensured definitions were clear. The commission reviewed the lighting aspects of the signs and added digital signs to the list of prohibited signs. Another change made included sending historic sign recognition or requests to the planning commission for approval instead of the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The commission had to vote on one detail that was changed within the ordinance. After the meeting Steve Walton of the Planning Commission explained that freestanding monument and pole signs allowed in B1, B2, DMU and industrial districts within the city have a setback from any R1 or R2 districts, and pole signs had a 200 foot setback which may have not been feasible. The commission voted to move the length down to 100 feet with six members voting favor and three, Ron Blau, Kevin Kalenic and Jonathon Nagel, opposing the change.

The vote to pass the ordinance onto the city’s lawyer and then the council for approval passed, with only Blau voting against it.

In other action the commission passed was the approval of Pat’s Food expansion at 801 Market St.