The Gilroy City Council is adding teeth and toughening up Gilroy’s sign ordinance to include a ban on a wide variety of signage, from prohibiting A-frame signs thoughout the city – including downtown – to axing costumed sign waving human advertisers on public property.
After local business owners are notified of the changes in writing if the ordinance is passed, warnings and fines – up to $500 for repeat offenders – will follow.
In a 6-1 vote, the Council approved an ordinance that would also ban balloons, streamers, flags and handheld signs – including people who wave signs at passing traffic during its regular meeting this week. Open house signs posted by a licensed realtor and objects that move in the wind at new car dealerships would be exempted from the proposed restrictions.
“It’s something that needs to be done to raise our standards here in the community,” Mayor Don Gage said. “We need to clean up our city if we want to attract businesses to the downtown or any place else.”
The proposed regulations will strictly regulate all of the Garlic Capital’s signage “in order to minimize their impact on the environment,” Community Development Director Kristi Abrams said. The regulations are consistent with Gilroy’s blueprint for development, its General Plan.
“I think this is step one in trying to clean Gilroy up and make it a really nice community for our residents,” Council Member Terri Aulman added. “I drive around and see all these signs and it makes our community less than what we’d like it to be. We want our community to look nice and attract tourism to Gilroy. A lot of these things are very distracting.”
The City’s Code Enforcement department, tasked with ensuring businesses and residents alike comply with various ordinances, will be mailing out information to local business including what is prohibited and what is allowed.
“Should we find a business in violation after our outreach, we will issue them an administrative citation with 10 days to comply,” Gilroy Police Department Code Enforcement Officer Scott Barron said.
If a business doesn’t comply, next will come a $100 penalty for the first violation. Repeat offenders may receive a $200 fine for the second violation and a $500 fine for all others within a year, he added.
That punitive strategy isn’t something some downtown property owners are pleased with. Instead, downtown developer Gary Walton would rather see an ordinance that sets standards for signage that requires owners to maintain their signs in a professional manner
“I think rather than prohibiting, what (the City needs) to do is actually improve the quality of the signs and make sure they’re innovative and creative,” Walton said. “That’s what we need – better quality signs – but their ordinance doesn’t address that at all. I don’t think you are going to get where you want to get by just prohibiting things.”
Back in council chambers Monday night, no members of the public spoke out during the allotted comment period. Mayor Gage sees that as a sign City Council is doing the right thing.
“You didn’t see one person come up and make any statement whatsoever in terms of ‘I have to have this or I’ll go out of business,’” he said. “People think they need to see this community cleaned up.”
According to Mark Turner, president of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce, signage can be an effective marketing and wayfinding tool – and it’s especially important to downtown businesses.
While he understands the City’s reasoning that an amalgamation of signs, balloons and costumed advertisers can be distracting and “detract from a good look in the downtown,” Turner said hopes the City can find some middle ground when it comes to A-frame signs.
“If done properly and professionally they don’t become a nuisance,” he added. “With that said, you then find yourself trying to define what is proper and professional when it comes to A-frame signage. I believe that definition could be achieved and still allow for certain A-frame signs to exist.”
The lone dissenting vote while the item was up for discussion Monday night, Councilman Peter Arellano said he thought the ordinance is an example of government overstepping its boundaries.
“For one person, (the signs, balloons and flags) look beautiful, for one it looks terrible,” he said. “We’re going to hurt businesses. It’s because the signs are up and ‘they’re ugly.’ I don’t understand that reasoning and I don’t agree with it.”
Also of the mind the regulations will hurt local business, Walton said he believes they will single out small business owners who have a hard enough time already competing with corporations.
“My wish is that they worked with the merchants to develop better quality signage,” Walton said.
On most weekdays, a man dressed in a crow costume waves at passing cars on the 1200 block of First Street, advertising for an income tax company. He represents one of a handful of Gilroy businesses who use costumed advertisers to grab the attention of traffic who will have to find another job if City Council moves forward.
“If you’re going to go to a business, you’re going to go whether there’s a banner there or not,” Aulman said. “I don’t want to put anybody out of work, but we have to decide as a council how we want our city to look. These are tough decisions.”
