Article from The News Tribune, published March 17 2003

University Place may allow larger business signs

CECILIA NGUYEN; The News Tribune

Proposed changes to the city's sign laws may bring relief to some University Place business owners.

The city's planning commission has recommended that the City Council approve a list of recommendations that would permit businesses to have larger signs than the current ordinance allows.

The proposed changes also would give businesses until March 2009 to comply with the city's sign regulations. The current ordinance requires all businesses to have conforming signs by next year in July.

"It's a pretty significant relaxation," planning manager David Swindale said. "This is a way for the City Council to show that it's sensitive to the business community's concerns."

Some business owners and representatives from the Tacoma-Pierce Chamber University Place/Fircrest division said that they're satisfied with most of the sign code changes.

"I'm hearing that everybody felt there's some balance," said Paul Ellis of the Tacoma-Pierce Chamber.

A majority of City Council members supported the changes at a meeting last week. The council now must allow for a 60-day review period. Officials are scheduled to vote on the proposed sign code changes in May.

The council adopted stricter sign regulations in 1998, based on information staff members gathered from public hearings, meetings and the Tacoma-Pierce Chamber. The sign code included a ban on attaching advertisements to utility poles and it limited sign size.

Back then, residents complained about the numerous signs that lined Bridgeport Way West and other busy streets, Swindale said.

"It was generally sign blight," he said. "It was not an attractive environment, and it didn't reflect well on the community."

The city informed scores of businesses last year that they had until mid-2003 to replace the 172 illegal signs. A group called the University Place Business Association, led by Dan Koval of Federated Mortgage, said the city's sign code was too restrictive, and that businesses needed more time.

City staff members then proposed the sign code changes, in response to the association's complaints.

Koval acknowledged that the stricter sign regulations have improved city street sign aesthetics.

But he also added that he's worried that the sign code - even with its proposed changes - could hurt businesses that rely on impulse shoppers.

And some business owners, such as Joanne Crane of Crane's Creations, still say that they will lose customers because the proposed changes don't allow for big enough signs.

Still, businesses seem to be faring well in University Place - even with tighter sign regulations, said John Caulfield, deputy city manager.

Sales tax revenue collected by the city has almost doubled since incorporation, from $813,491 in 1996 to $1.56 million in 2002.

"As far as the impact on businesses, we're not seeing any direct correlation," Caulfield said.

Cecilia Nguyen: 253-597-8692

cecilia.nguyen@mail.tribnet.com

(Published 12:30AM, March 17th, 2003)