Sweet Home Community Development Director Carol Lewis has started writing revisions to the city’s sign ordinance based on what she has heard during two Planning Commission meetings on the subject.

“I’m starting at the beginning, striking out old language and adding new language,” she said. Thursday, she was busy revising the types of signs recognized by the ordinance.

At the Planning Commission’s May and June meetings, using Google Maps, the members took a virtual, street-level tour of Sweet Home, Newport, Corvallis, Lake Oswego and Sisters to look at things they like and don’t like.

As she writes revisions, she is asking herself, “What is it I’m hearing they liked and what do these cities have in their codes that creates what they like,” she said. Newport, for example, had a slightly projecting two-panel sign on one building that a commissioner didn’t like. She also heard negative comments about signs as part of awnings.

Some complaints, governing content, cannot be regulated based on content, according to an Oregon Supreme Court ruling, she said.

“I’m taking notes,” Lewis said. “I’m hearing, I don’t like the wall sign. I like this.”

In general, “honestly, the biggest thing I’m hearing is ‘I don’t like certain people’s signs,’” Lewis said. Other comments have included, “Why worry about an ugly sign when the building is ugly?”

The small credit cards accepted signs may need to be integrated into the single main sign, for example, she said.

At the same time, she is attempting to make the language of the ordinance easier to read and more user-friendly in a logical order, she said.
Lewis is not planning revisions on some issues, such as non-conforming signs, preferring to wait for a decision from the commission, she said. If the ordinance changes radically and ends up more restrictive, it could leave many existing signs out of compliance with the ordinance.

If the Planning Commission and the community want to see quick changes, the ordinance could come with a sunset provision for those signs, requiring them to comply with the ordinance within a certain timeframe, she said. Otherwise, it could take 50 years for signs throughout the town to comply, since business owners apply for only six to 10 sign permits each year.

“I’m not looking for change next year,” she said. “I’m looking at a 20-year horizon.”

She is taking her queue from ordinances in other Oregon communities, including those on the virtual tour, she said. “They deal with some things that have caused us problems, like empty sign poles. That bothers people.”

Those ordinances specifically address empty sign faces and how long they can stay up, Lewis said. Other jurisdictions have requirements for taking those sign posts down.

Other cities’ ordinances also deal with small, internal directional signs, such as arrows directing traffic, she said. They define them, and that’s something she has needed in the sign ordinance in Sweet Home because they haven’t been covered, leaving her to wonder whether they count toward the limitations on total sign area on a property.

The commission has taken a look at the problems, she said. Now it’s time for the commission to look at ideas on the table.

The commission began looking at the issue at the request of the Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort’s planning committee, which raised concerns about signs in Sweet Home.

The commission may see some revision proposals at its Aug. 3 meeting, Lewis said. Right now, the agenda is open. She said she doesn’t foresee the revisions being completed for at least a year.

Customer service takes precedence over rewriting the ordinance, she said, so how long the revision will take depends on how much planning activity takes place in Sweet Home in the coming months.

At the same time, the city has been inviting the public and business owners to attend the meetings, she said. The commission needs to hear what people like and don’t like.

It hasn’t drawn much attendance, she said. “Until someone’s ready to put up a sign, they’re not going to look at this.”

But she encourages people to speak up now, she said. She can be contacted at 367-8113, at City Hall or by mail at Attn: Carol Lewis, City Hall, 1140 12th Ave., Sweet Home, OR 97386.