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The City of Sisters may toughen its enforcement of the sign ordinance and fine
businesses that have illegal banners. Violators may be cited into municipal
court -- although planning commissioners don't remember that ever being done.
Sisters' new mayor Steve Wilson has been an advocate of stronger sign ordinance
enforcement since his tenure as a Sisters planning commissioner. He recently
directed city planner Neil Thompson to work with the planning commission to
strengthen enforcement and close loopholes in the ordinance.
"The banner situation needs to be addressed," Wilson told The Nugget.
"We need to get some conclusion to this."
A Sisters business can get a permit to put up a banner for 30 days, with the
possibility of a 30- day extension.
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But, according to Thompson, some businesses have put up banners and left them
up indefinitely. He said Ali's True Confections, Eurosports, Ray's Food Place,
Mountain Supply, the Silver Dollar Arcade, Davis Oil and Lutton's Ace Hardware
have been violators.
Thompson said business owners have refused to take the banners down when he
requested that they do so.
"`I'm not taking mine down till he takes his down is basically the response,'"
Thompson told The Nugget.
Dave Elliott, owner of Ali's True Confections -- and a city planning
commissioner-- said he put up his banner as a protest. Elliott said he acted
"strictly as a business owner."
"I strictly did it as a protest to make the city get off its butt and do
something about banners that have been up for years," he said. "I know it's
illegal and I'll take it down when they tell me to."
(The day after Elliott was interviewed for this story, Thompson informed The
Nugget that Elliott told him he had taken his banner down.)
As a planning commissioner, Elliott said, his attitude is that "if we've got
these rules and regulations, let's enforce them."
Thompson finds the prospect of legal wrangling over illegal banners
unpleasant but probably necessary.
"To me it's an unfriendly or extreme step," Thompson said. "My nature is to
negotiate, I guess. But in this situation, it looks like we're going to have to
take that step."
But stricter enforcement alone won't do much to keep businesses from having
banners up year-round.
Currently, there is no limit to how many times a business can apply for a
banner permit. Thompson said that businesses like Les Schwab, who use banners
to advertise weekly promotions, simply reapply for a permit each month.
Thompson said the planning commission may act to close that loophole to reduce
the number of banners up in Sisters.
Another loophole that planners want to see closed is the exemption from Sisters
1880s Western theme requirements allowed signs that are a registered
trademark.
Currently, Thompson said, "you register a trademark with the state of Oregon
for $29 -- in my mind, that's a registered trademark."
Thompson said that exemption may be modified to include only nationally
recognized trademarks.
Wilson would like to go even further.
"Maybe we need to revisit trademark exemption, period," he said.
Wilson thinks businesses with national trademarks should be required to meet
the 1880s Western theme requirements in terms of color and font style.
"If a national trademark business wants to come to Sisters, they should be
asked to comply the same way as an average business," Wilson said.
