Business Sign Ordinance Review

Randall Knight, Reporter
Rich County Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah- January 9, 2013. The Public Hearing of the Garden City Planning Commission was held as scheduled to discuss Ordinance 12-18 Sign Ordinance #11C600 and 12-19 Definitions #11A-200-132.  No one was in attendance to discuss the two ordinances so the meeting was adjourned with no comments.  This reporter is always amazed to attend these meetings that affect not only the business owners (current and future) but indirectly the local residents and no one attends them except the board members and RCT reporters.

The Garden City Planning Commission held their regularly scheduled meeting  directly after the public hearing to discuss the sign Ordinance #11C-600 and 12-19 sign definitions #11A-200-A-132.

The purpose of the ordinance is necessary to reduce potential risk to health, safety and welfare of the citizens and to ensure conformity with the surrounding environment according to the board members.  Several issues were discussed but a main concern was voiced about the costs that will be required to get proposed signs approved.  A recommendation was made to require signs costing $1000 or more to be professionally designed and installed.  Bill England voiced  his concern that the ordnance bans banner signs and recommended that certain banner signs should be exempt from the requirement as written for short periods of time because the local season is limited to basically 90 days.   The current ordinance states an owner is allowed to display temporary signs for a total of 90 days.  Another recommendation was mentioned in regard to the document being hard to understand and should be written in clearer language and with not so much legalese.  

Board members said there have been several previous sign meetings with little support from the local companies and residents.  England pointed out that the number of people attending the previous sign meetings diminished because of various conflicts in schedules and changes in meeting times.  Most of the board members stated they had received the ordinances just a few days ago and hadn’t had time to review them completely so a motion was made to review the documents so that they would be prepared to review them page-by-page at next month’s meeting.

Copies of the two proposed Ordinances are available at the city office building for review and comments will be heard at the next Public Hearing meeting scheduled for 6 Feb.  Because this ordinance will impact not only the businesses, but also the local citizens and tourists, this reporter recommends everybody review the ordinances and provide their comments to ensure the attractiveness of Garden City is maintained.

There is a concern about the canal easement changing from 15 to 30 feet as it transverses through the city.   George Peart, Rich County Building Inspector, stated that state bill HB298, Land Use Authority Notification of Canal Development, was passed and requires municipalities and counties to notify canal companies of proposed development within 100 feet of the center line of a canal and also requires the canal companies to provide the municipalities and counties with the company's contact information and a general description of the location of their canal(s) by July 1, 2010. Nobody in attendance knew if the local canal companies were in compliance.  The city feels they need to write an ordinance to address this issue.  Danny said he will write a draft for review and comment within the next 2-3 months.

County funding has been approved to aid in building a kiosk that will identify the local businesses and locations.  The kiosk will be located on Bear Lake Boulevard between the LDS chapel and Jake’s.