City adopts sign change
SANDPOINT — No more, no less.
Downtown businesses will be allowed one temporary banner, or one sandwich board to advertise their business in addition to regular signage after the city’s latest amendment to its sign ordinance is on the books.
City council voted last week to adopt changes to its sign ordinance prohibiting a plethora of banners, boards, flags or pennons.
Instead, the ordinance allows just one.
No business owners spoke against changing the ordinance at a recent public hearing, instead, most of the discussion was among council members who initially hesitated to throw support behind the new law.
Council member John Reuter said changes to the sign law should cast a bigger net and take a closer look at obscure additions to the law already in place.
A firearms shop that recently added a barbecue shaped like a revolver to its parking lot violates the city’s advertising law because it is a business sign, he said.
Having a gun in front of a gun shop, he said, is technically illegal according to city law.
“It would not be illegal if it were in front of a flower shop,” he said. “That seems odd to me.”
He also asked the city not adopt changes during the tourist season because studies by the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association show that changing laws that impact business is better done after the busiest season.
Council member Stephen Snedden asked that the definition of a banner be clarified.
According to the code a banner is made of flexible material secured at four corners, but the definition does not technically address triangular or circular banners.
How the law would be enforced also concerned council members.
If a business exceeds the one banner, one sandwich board limit, the city will issue a warning giving the business owner 30 days to comply, after that he or she is guilty of an infraction, according to the law.
In the end, though, the amendment was adopted.
The new law makes it easier for the city to enforce its sign law, according to planners.
The issue arose last year when a former council member protested the original ordinance that allowed businesses to have temporary signs for 30 days at a time. Many businesses were exceeding the maximum time allowed, the council member said. He proved it by taking photos of dozens of temporary signs that advertised for more than 30 days at a time, and asked the city to either repeal the law or enforce it.
In addition, temporary signs take away from the aesthetics of a business district, City Planner Jeremy Grimm said.
“It almost becomes an arms race of who can have the brightest and loudest sign,” he said.
Joan Bramblee, senior city planner, said the latest version of the law should make enforcement easier.
“They won’t be allowed both,” Bramblee said. “It’s either one banner or one portable sign.”
That way, anyone on enforcement duty can easily spot violations.
“If they see one of each, they know there is a violation taking place,” she said.
Business are allowed two permanent signs advertising their business on each side facing a street, but only one temporary sign. If banners are used as permanent signs they must be framed.
The new ordinance comes after several workshops with businesses. Another campaign will inform businesses of the latest change.
“We will be visiting all businesses,” Grimm said.