03/17/1986 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e - e B. Update of Eugene Sign Code (CA 85-6) (memo, background information distributed) City Manager Micheal Gleason introduced the Update of the Eugene Sign Code. Jim Croteau of the Planning Department gave the staff report. He said the proposed changes in the Sign Code were reviewed by several citizens' groups, the Planning Commission, and the Downtown Commission. He said changes were proposed in the purpose and description sections of the sign districts, the Sign Code variance process, the number of identification signs permitted in the Integrated Shopping District, the Pedestrian-Auto Sign District, the signs permitted for businesses adjacent to 1-5 or limited-access highways, advertisements permitted on bus stop benches, provisions for banners for community events, the Sign Code enforcement process, provisions for the Goodpasture Island automobile dealerships, and clarifications in the wording of the code. e Mr. Croteau said the changes provide for applications for Sign Code variances to be considered by the Building Official and appeals will be heard by the Sign Code Board of Appeals. The council will no longer be involved in the process. He distributed copies of a map of the Pedestrian-Auto Sign District and said the changes provide for portable sandwich boards west of High Street, banners, flags, searchlights, and other attention-getting devices, and require that the changes be reviewed in one year. He said the changes will permit the automobile dealerships on Goodpasture Island Road to apply for the Highway Oriented District which permits identification signs 30 feet high. Mayor Obie opened the public hearing. Gweneth Van Frank, 45 West 29th Place, represented a group of blind people titled Support for Independent Living with Visual Impairment (SILVI). She said the group does not want sandwich boards permitted on the downtown mall. However, if sandwich boards are permitted, the group recommends that the sandwich boards not be more than three feet high, that the signs be made of wood with rounded corners, that the signs have solid frames so that they do not fall over if someone walks into them, that the signs have a solid base, and that the signs be placed parallel to the buildings or in the middle of the mall out of main pedestrian traffic areas. Larry Azeltine, 666 East Broadway, urged the councilors to approve provisions for reader boards on identification signs. He said they will help small businesses. He said the present code does not permit reader boards to be attached to identification signs, and it requires reader boards to be 15 feet from the property line. He said the attachment of reader boards to identification signs would consolidate signs and eliminate some clutter. He said business people need to market their products to the pUblic and reader boards near the street will help. He said reader boards are less expensive than newspaper advertising. Larry Anderson, 2150 Woodacres Drive, represented Dunham Olds Cadillac-Isuzu, Inc., and Allan Gardner who represents Kendall Ford and Valley River Dodge. He said the automobile dealers favor the change in criteria for the Highway- Oriented District which will permit the Highway-Oriented District to be ~ applied to them. He said the automobile dealership signs are nationally MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 17, 1986 Page 8