VOD Plan Commission chooses not to allow murals

During last Tuesday’s Village of Denmark Plan Commission meeting, members discussed potentially amending the municipal sign regulations to allow for murals, ultimately deciding to take no action at this time.

The topic of murals was raised to the Village Board of Trustees in April when members of Denmark Connects utilized the pre-registered citizen comment portion of the monthly meeting to encourage the municipality to allow for public art installations including murals. Currently, murals are not technically prohibited by the village, but they must meet all current rules and regulations for wall signs including size and placement on the “primary facade” of the structure. The Denmark Connects members hoped the village would consider a new public art ordinance to regulate the installation and upkeep of murals and similar installations.

Three months later, the issue of murals arrived in front of the village’s Plan Commission who debated whether or not to change the current sign regulations to allow for murals. When introducing the topic, Village President Susan Selner shared some examples of murals in other communities but noted, “The major problem you run into are freedom of speech issues,” and asked, “How do we control who puts up what?” and, “How do we prevent something obscene, in our eyes, from going up?”

Village Zoning Administrator Jeff Sanders shared his perspective saying he did have language of similar ordinances from other communities to allow murals, but the village would have no say over the content of any murals installed on private property due to First Amendment protections. The only content that could be regulated would be that which incited or encouraged violence or was deemed “patently obscene”. He stated the village could not prevent anyone from being “overly expressive” adding, “You cannot regulate what the mural says. Period.” Sanders further noted, if approved, murals would still only be allowed on commercial, institutional, industrial or village-owned property. He closed his report by pointing out he believes the U.S. Supreme Court will soon be ruling on whether municipalities could regulate the content of murals. Sanders also pointed out multiple times he does not have a law degree and suggested having the village’s attorney review the situation.

Other members of the Plan Commission seemed to share concerns about potential content of murals if they were allowed. Commission member Jeff Leiterman asked, “Could someone bash the village with a mural?” with member Bob Sekora stating, “There’s no guarantee it would even be someone from the village”. Zoning Administrator Sanders added, “I’m certain there are one or two people in the community who would love to express their opinion in a bold way.” President Selner pointed to the current “political climate” and how people were “very involved in different viewpoints”. Commission member Dale Schlies summed up his feelings by stating, “Let’s just leave it the way we got it. You ever knock down a hornets’ nest accidentally, you know how many times you get stung before you get out of the way?”

Zoning Administrator Sanders explained the village could regulate content on any mural installed on village property, and similarly, the school could regulate content of any mural on district property; however, with the current codes, any murals would still have to follow all rules and regulations relating to signs. President Selner pointed out the village does not own the best sites for potential murals stating, “At this time, what we’ve got is not prime.”

Commission member Jeff Leiterman reiterated, “I just don’t want us to lose control of what it says. That’s what I have a problem with.” President Selner responded, “We have the control right now, just the way it is existing.” However, she also noted, “We can address it again in the future…situations change.”