The city of Columbia Falls wants to make changes to zoning regulations in the city’s central business district and will hold a public hearing Tuesday to consider amendments to the sign ordinance, parking requirements and land use.

The hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. before the Columbia Falls Planning Board in the City Hall council chambers.

City officials have received a number of inquiries from downtown business owners and citizens about improving the business climate in the downtown area, so the city staff launched a review of zoning regulations.

Subsequent discussions will include infrastructure improvements, consideration of a tax increment finance district, tax credits and the city’s public works policy, according to a planning staff report.

Several of the proposed zoning amendments deal with the city’s sign ordinance.

The city wants to add way-finding signs to the list of permitted signs. Those include signs for local amenities erected by a government agency or in cooperation with a government agency.

In an attempt to crack down on abandoned signs, Columbia Falls wants to shorten the amount of time a sign may stand before being considered abandoned from 18 to six months. If a new business occupies a structure or site, the city wants any abandoned signs removed in 30 days.

The city further proposes to lift a ban on internally illuminated signs and neon signs and replace it with softer language that would encourage people with lighted signs to turn them off during off hours because of a growing problem with light pollution.

There also will be discussion about allowing some commercial content in mural exhibits within the central business district. Because sign codes are prohibited from regulating the content of a sign, the planning staff cautioned the city to be careful to avoid regulating the right to free speech.

A staff recommendation is to limit commercial content to 5 percent of a mural’s area, not to exceed 20 square feet of the mural face.

In the parking section of the city zoning code, a proposed change would add a sentence stipulating that “to avoid conflicts with nearby residential uses, a plan to show employee parking on site is required. Due to lot constraints, providing spaces for all employees may be impossible; therefore a specific number is not required.”

In the land use section, the city proposes to remove commercial recreation facilities from the list of permitted uses in the central business district.