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Clovis to address sign code

CLOVIS - Clovis city officials are planning to address a new sign code in their Thursday meeting, and several of them spent Monday morning hearing many objections to the process from business owners.

Feedback was varied during a one-hour, 40-minute meeting at the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce, with city officials saying they are receptive to easing some of the proposed code and business owners asking for a tabling of the ordinance to address more concerns.

The commission on Dec. 2 voted to introduce the sign code ordinance, which included different requirements of sign sizes, heights and property setbacks based on road categories - residential, collector, arterial and highway.

The introduction initiated a public comment period of at least 30 days. The chamber discussed the sign ordinance briefly at its Dec. 15 board of directors meeting, and put together a committee to identify potential issues with the ordinance. Chamber representatives said they weren't in objection to a new sign code or general city beautification efforts, but had issues with particular clauses in the 20-page code the commission will consider.

"Those (signs) are assets to us, and they're pretty expensive," said Bryan Ellis, who chairs a chamber committee regarding the proposed code. "If I have to put them into compliance, that's going to be an expense for me."

The meeting was attended by 42 people - 30 in person at the chamber conference room and the rest attending virtually. City representatives in attendance included City Manager Justin Howalt, Mayor Mike Morris, City Attorney Jared Morris, Mayor Pro Tem Chris Bryant and Commissioners Megan Palla, James Burns and Helen Casaus. District 2 Commissioner Lauren Rowley also arrived to the meeting, but left after determining her presence created a quorum of commissioners.

During his presentation, Ellis showed about a dozen pictures of signs that he said would violate the ordinance, and said they comprised a fraction of the photos he could have presented.

Brannon New of Clovis Sign Service brought up various issues with the sign code, while acknowledging it would benefit him to let the code pass as is because "whenever a sign isn't in compliance, I have a new job."

New noted that people have come to Clovis Sign for decades to invest in their business and the community, and the sign code threatened those investments.

Existing signs would be grandfathered in, but New and various business owners had concerns over events that would trigger a six-month deadline to come into compliance - an ownership or lessee change, or any event that damages more than 50% of a sign.

New referenced a Clovis resident who recently inherited a business from his family, while Ellis noted a drunken driver once plowed through his sign. In each instance, they said, the property owner is out of compliance through no fault of their own.

Following Ellis' presentation, Attorney Morris noted that most of the pictures were of businesses that were violating a 15-foot setback requirement, and said the ordinance doesn't include setbacks as a trigger for the six-month compliance window. While he acknowledged it was the commission's decision, Morris said the commission could vote to reduce or eliminate the setback requirement altogether.

"I don't think we're hard and fast about whether we have setbacks," Morris said.

Regarding a question on a potential appeal process, Attorney Morris said the sign code would be part of the Unified Development Ordinance, which has an appeal process in place.

City Manager Howalt said the sign ordinance has been a multi-year task that started in June 2019, after the city replaced its existing zoning laws with the UDO. Following completion of the UDO, the city saw a need to update its existing sign ordinance following a 2015 Supreme Court decision, Reed v. Gilbert. That decision expanded what makes a sign code content-based and unconstitutional.

Since staff was working on a new sign code anyway, Howalt said it made sense to also look at standards for sign sizes, heights and setbacks. Howalt noted a potential safety issue with setbacks, since a sign placed right at the property boundary impacts a driver's view of oncoming traffic.

The proposed ordinance gives different restrictions based on the type of road where the sign is located. For example, a sign on a residential street could be a maximum of 120 square feet and 20 feet in height, while a sign on U.S. 60/84 or U.S. 70 could be up to 400 square feet and 60 feet high.

Howalt said he has received numerous phone calls regarding the ordinance, but he also receives calls from residents and visitors asking why the town is so unsightly. Graffiti and dilapidated buildings are part of that, and so are signs.

"The city's listening; we're not deaf to that," Howalt said.

Mayor Morris said the ordinance creation began before he took office in 2000, but the effort matches his goals on city beautification. He noted the city has worked on various other aspects of community cleanup, including policy changes that helped green light the demolition of roughly a dozen of the most dilapidated buildings. He also noted that he and five commissioners were business owners, and they brought that perspective into policy creation.

Near the end of the meeting, New brought up an objection to one clause in the ordinance requiring the removal of any billboard erected on or after Dec. 5 in violation of the code. The code requires billboards be at least 1,000 feet apart, and New said two new billboards that violate the code could represent $750,000 in business over 20 years. Howalt said that was a fair point, and that the city would look at that matter.

Prince Street resident Jack Muse spoke regarding his "tree sign" in praise of President Donald Trump and the threat of it violating the new sign code. Muse argued the sign was protected speech, and that he put it on the tree because four signs he placed on the ground were vandalized. Muse said the city should target vandalism and not his signs.

The commission will meet 5:15 p.m. Thursday at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library.

 
 
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