Rich Civic Times
GARDEN CITY, Utah. February 6,
2013. Garden City Planning Commission.
There were several people in attendance; both business owners and
residents.
The Mayor gave a brief background
on the sign ordinance 11C-600. One of
the main concerns was the liability the city bears with improperly installed
signs. He stated the Bear Lake Valley Blue
Print is an important process used to provide a vision for the future
development of the area and a model to use in an attempt to ensure its beauty. He
stated that last summer several comments were provided in a negative way
concerning the signs and their appearance.
Last July a comprehensive process was put in place to update the ordinance
policy and input was requested from several local businesses. This meeting was the third meeting held to
discuss the plan and ordinance. He emphasized
that input from the community is requested and desired ensure that everyone in
the community is onboard with the final decision and policy. Andy Stokes said he reviewed the sign
ordinances from other comparable cities as a baseline to write the sign
ordinance.
Bill England discussed his
concerns about the strictness of the ordinance as written and the effect it
will have on his business; banners, balloons and his large carved bear located
in front of the pizza parlor that has become a famous landmark. Andy White said the current acceptable signs
will be grandfathered in and not required to meet the new ordinance
requirements. Mark Hislop said the
ordinance had gone from 3-4 items in the first meeting to over 30 items now and
the cost for signs has increased significantly.
Andy said he gained new information concerning what signs require a
licensed contractor to install after reviewing other city sign ordinances; i.e.
signs over $1,000, maximum height of 48 inches, and 12 square ft. Larger signs need to meet the International
Building Code and applicable electrical codes if the sign requires electrical
connection.
The manager of Coopers asked
about off premise signs and their restrictions.
He was told they are not restricted from any zones but have to be
installed in accordance with the city and UDOT requirements if installed along
the state highways. A couple of
Realtor’s asked about their sign restrictions and were told the ordinance is
intended to prevent a large number of realty signs, including directional
signs, from being displayed for developments.
One of the attendee’s voiced his
concern about the city getting in the way of the local businesses making a
profit in the current environment by adding so many regulations. He also stated the comparison of Garden City
to Moab and Park City, cities with 365 days of business, to the short season we
have here was wrong. The board agreed
they need to do some more research to see if they can’t find other cities with
limited tourist time frames.
Questions were also asked in
regard to community event signs and were told they are exempt from the
ordinance except for safety restrictions.
Examples of these exempt signs are parade of homes, chocolate festival,
Heritage Days, Fire District breakfast, St. Charles salmon bake, etc.
The board requested that everyone
review the draft ordinance and provide final inputs prior to 21 Feb. Because of the number of questions and
concerns the board decided they would like another public meeting next Tuesday at
9:00 AM for another review of the document.
