Agreeing to grant an exemption from the current height maximum allowed under the city’s sign code, the South Jordan City Council voted unanimously at the April 21 regular session to permit a 60-foot tall video display freeway sign for the Tim Dahle Nissan dealership at 11155 South Jordan Gateway Parkway. While the vote related strictly to just the single South Jordan business that requested an allowance of 10 extra feet above the current pylon sign height limit, the robust discussion among the council in anticipation of the vote indicated that change may be brewing for the city’s sign code, at least along the eastern stretch of the city bordering I-15.

A new height standard in freeway-adjacent signage is visible just south of the Nissan dealership, where a towering three-sided video screen reaches 100 feet into the air near 11400 South along I-15. Some in the city government wonder whether that monolith may set the bar too high. “I’m not sure anyone is looking up that high,” noted City Planner Greg Schindler as he presented the case at the April 21 meeting for allowing the 60-foot-tall Nissan sign in South Jordan.

The council was in full agreement with allowing the exception to the sign code’s existing 50-foot height limit for Tim Dahle Nissan. Councilmember Don Shelton inquired whether “a change to the sign ordinance is needed for consistency in the future?” 

While the decision to grant the exemption in this case went through without opposition, the question now becomes whether the council will revisit the issue with an ordinance amendment to increase the presumptive limit for freeway-adjacent business signs.