Council members at odds over temporary sign ordinance

The property maintenance and restoration committee discussed the rewriting of the temporary sign ordinance and considered the inclusions of fines for businesses who leave temporary signs up for more than 30 days. 

The committee met Monday evening, and chairperson Bonnie Parr presented the committee, which includes council members Peter Pence and Bill Alexander, with a draft rewriting a portion of the city's sign ordinance (Ordinance 153.05) concerning temporary signs. Parr said that she had written the draft, which Hillsboro Law Director Fred Beery then re-wrote in "legal terms."

Parr said that she had received complaints regarding businesses in the city that are using banners and other temporary signs as permanent signage for their businesses, rather than getting permits and erecting permanent signs, which violates the city's ordinance. As the ordinance is currently written, businesses may put out a temporary sign on their own property for 30 days. Parr said that she felt the city needed to require permits at a cost.

"I think we need to put some sort of price on the head of that temporary business sign," Parr said, and suggested a fee of $50.

Pence and Alexander both said they felt that was too high. They also noted that signs constructed out of more permanent materials are also more expensive. 

"Ew. I think it needs to be more affordable than that," Pence said. "I mean, it's just a temporary sign."

Alexander said, "In this economic climate, I would like for Hillsboro to be as hospitable for businesses as we possibly could be. My concern is a $50 fee for a temporary sign might be interpreted as Hillsboro not being as friendly to businesses. I'm in favor of doing something to make a distinction between temporary and permanent signs so that people will be motivated to get a permanent sign. A lot of these businesses are very small businesses that operate on very small profit margins."

Alexander asked if there was a fee for temporary signs now, and Parr said there was not.

"That's the whole concept of changing it," Parr said. "So everybody just doesn't set signs out and leave them forever and ever and ever, and the city has to go around and pick them up."

Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt said that if council changes the ordinance, it is something the city is going to have to monitor and enforce, which could be difficult. The city would have to keep track of when each sign is put up so that they could tell them when to take it down. 

"Did the ordinance change? Because prior to this, they were allowed to put up a temporary sign on their property," Holt said. "Does that go away?"

"That goes away," Parr said. 

Parr said the only thing that would stay the same is the exception in the ordinance that allows temporary signs for real estate, elections, advertisements for carnivals, fairs, social or "similar event" and must be removed by 15 days following the event.

Pence asked how big an issue this was, and Holt said, "Well, the issue now that we're having is that businesses are putting up temporary signs and when you contact them to say, 'Hey, you need a permit,' they say, 'It's a temporary sign.'"

Council member Rod Daniels asked if it would be a better approach to extend the time frame allowing the temporary signs, such as to 90 days, and having the city monitor that. 

"If you see a sign up there for more than 90 days you can say, well now it's automatically permanent and you can either take it down at that time or you need a permit," Daniels said. 

"You probably won't believe this, but there's a lot more on my plate than signs," Holt said. 

Pence said that it does not benefit the city to change it if they have no way to monitor or enforce it.

"If you don't give them a hard line, then you need to treat them all as permanent signs," Holt said, "because it makes it harder to distinguish and harder to control."

Pence said that he also felt it was unfair to tell businesses, who are trying to advertise special sales or prices, that they cannot put up a sign on their property without a permit. 

Parr said that Pence didn't understand what it is she was trying to address. Pence said that he understood, but they could not address temporary signs being used as permanent signs without addressing all temporary signs because it fell under the same portion of the ordinance. 

"You don't get it," Parr said. 

"Yeah, I get it," Pence said. "I mean, I get it that signs are a cheap way for some of these businesses to advertise."

Parr said, "What other purposes would they be using them for?"

"To advertise what they have got going on," Pence said. "I mean, I've seen them around town where they are advertising a sale."

Parr, Holt and Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink said that unless the signs are on the business's property, it is in violation of the ordinance. Holt said he regularly had the street department go around and collect the signs and throw them away. 

"We have a whole dumpster full," Zink said. 

Pence said that the revised ordinance does not say how many signs a year a business can have, which means they could take down a temporary sign and on the 31st day, put up another sign. Parr said she felt that was addressed in the ordinance. 

Parr handed Zink and Pence copies of the proposed ordinance. After Pence finished reading, Pence said, "It still needs work. It still says I can put a sign up, take it down, and put it back up."

"OK," Parr said. "You can write it."

Pence agreed to re-write the draft, and Parr said she would schedule a meeting at a later date to review it.  

Council members asked Holt if he had received complaints regarding temporary signs, and Parr said that she had received "lots of complaints" on the freestanding signs. 

Parr said that she had spent "hours and hours" working on the sign ordinance.

Holt said that the ordinance had a lot of gray in it, and he felt it would be better for the city "there is more black and white."

Parr asked Pence, "So what do you suggest?"

"I suggest you make it more affordable," Pence said. 

Alexander said that he liked the way the draft read, as long as it did not have the cost associated with it. 

"This seems to me something that would be easier for the businesses to comply with," Alexander said. 

Alexander said that he would like to get input from the business community before moving forward. Pence said he agreed. 

"I know what they're going to say," Parr said. "Give them the leeway and they'll do whatever they want. They're pretty well doing that anyhow, so you've got a problem."

Alexander said, "You might be surprised."