SEQUIM — Commercial signs that stick out on sidewalks, curbs and other locations to block motorists’ visibility are being targeted by city leaders.
Officials want to tighten up the sign ordinance to crack down on so-called sandwich board signs and plan to present their proposals to members of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, Sequim Association of Realtors and Sequim Rotary Clubs in March.
The officials said they want to hear thoughts about how to regulate signs — and how much to regulate them.
Many of the signs are used by real estate agents to direct motorists down streets to homes for sale.
City Manager Steve Burkett said the idea is to craft a new sign ordinance that is “something in the middle” — between the extremes of allowing all sandwich board and other temporary business signs or banning them outright.
“Is there a problem with all of these signs?” Burkett said.
“If there is, we need to find some way to regulate them.”
City Attorney Craig Ritchie said the city had a “perfectly good sign ordinance” until a court challenge known as the “Blazing Bagels” case out of the Seattle suburb of Redmond.
The issue for changes in Sequim’s sign ordinance was presented in September, the result of a 9th Circuit Court case in 2006 in which judges invalidated the city of Redmond’s ordinance that prohibited off-premises commercial signs, except real estate open-house directional signs.
The court held Redmond’s ordinance to be an improper content-based regulation.
Ritchie said in terms of “risk avoidance,” a revision of the city’s ordinance was preferable to present enforcement of Sequim’s current code.
“Normally, everyone agrees that there is too much clutter of signs but rarely agree on the solution, especially as applicable to an individual’s own sign,” Ritchie said.
The city is allowed to regulate the size and structure of a sign, the quantity of signs and how long they can be posted, but it cannot regulate the message, according to Ritchie.
During a City Council meeting this week, some council members called for an outright ban.
“The easiest way is to ban sandwich boards from down Main Street,” Councilman Don Hall said, noting that Sequim’s problem looks too much like that in downtown Port Townsend.
Ritchie agreed, saying, “That’s the simplest way, and that’s what can be done.”
Councilman Bill Huizinga called for a ban of all signs within the public right of way.
Councilman Ted Miller agreed with Huizinga “unless there is a compelling public interest.”
Miller supported fines for sign code violators.
Councilwoman Susan Lorenzen said sandwich board signs were “inevitable” in a small town such as Sequim, and she saw the need to focus on size, quality and quantity of such signs, avoiding “trashy” signage.
Ritchie said because political speech seems to have a higher value, it would be more difficult to regulate campaign signs over commercial signs.
Mayor Pro Tem Laura Dubois called for a limit on garage sale signs and a ban on signs attached to power poles.
She also asked Burkett to get the sign question in a city survey online soon.
Inflatable signs, such as the giant yellow duck put up to promote the annual Duck Derby fundraiser for the Olympic Medical Center Foundation, should also be regulated as to how long they can be inflated.
Ritchie recommended that the city track by name those who take out garage sale signs to discourage the fencing of stolen goods — but without making the process too difficult.
“What we’re trying to do is not make it a major production to have a garage sale,” Ritchie said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
