Have you ever entered an address in your phone or GPS system, and the icon placed you squarely in the middle of a busy street?
At that point, you are completely reliant on adequate, visible and legible signage to find the business or residence you wish to visit.
Imagine you are a homeowner attempting to sell your home yourself, conduct a garage sale or a real estate agent hosting an open house. Depending on your location, adequate temporary directional signage may mean 3 or 4 signs or it could mean more than 25 signs. Think of the difference between conducting someone to a house in West Wing or Vistancia, and conducting them to a house in Fletcher Heights, or near Cactus and 83rd Dr.
Imagine being a small business, tucked away in a shopping center with signage not visible to passersby. You may have a difficult time surviving. Signage on a multi lane, congested, fast moving roadway like Thunderbird, Bell or Union Hills may need to be larger, or there may need to be more signs of differing types in order for people to clearly see what businesses are located in the center and where they are located. For example, a small business at 83rd and Thunderbird may need an A-frame at the driveway in order for passersby to even know they exist.
WeMAR supports adequate, visible and legible signage for residents, property owners and business owners. Adequate is not quantifiable, but it is definable. For instance, large tracks of land may need a number of signs place every half mile along the perimeter, while a retail center may require signage every so many # feet of street frontage.
In our written remarks, we listed several concerns. We are concerned that there does not appear to be any provision for residents to display banners such as “Just Born”, ‘Welcome Home”, “New Graduate” or other banners on their property. It appears even blue or gold star banners in a window will not be allowed. We question the compelling government interest in regulating property owner’s expressions of joy, pride and sorrow.
We are concerned with the language on page 27. The header says, “Properties LISTED for sale, lease or rent”. Property owners have the right to offer and sell their property without the aid of a real estate licensee. We suggest changing the language to “Properties OFFERED for sale, lease or rent”.
Item 34.10, Table 4D, we suggest changing the language “while property is listed” to “While property is listed or actively offered for sale, lease or rent”. Once again, this reflects a property owner’s right to sell their own property. Also in Table 4D, we suggest adding the language “until the later of 10 days after the end of the listing or 10 days after completion of lease/sale transaction”.
WeMAR appreciates the time and effort staff has put into updating the sign ordinance, as well as their willingness to entertain suggestions from the public and stakeholders. We appreciate the numerous changes already made that were suggested previously by WeMAR and others. I know this is not an agenda items this evening, and we sent each of you a letter with our comments, but I will not be able to be here at your next scheduled meeting and wanted to give you my oral comments as well. Thank you.