Gilroy
– Huge banners draped on furniture stores and gesticulating
”
sign guys
”
at major intersections could soon become a thing of the
past.
Gilroy – Huge banners draped on furniture stores and gesticulating “sign guys” at major intersections could soon become a thing of the past.
When it comes to signs, most public officials have a pet peeve. Mayor Al Pinheiro has decried the giant banners slung across walls of buildings. Planning Commission Chairman Tim Day regards people waving signs on street corners an unsightly distraction for drivers. And city officials eager to spruce up downtown are losing patience with A-board signs that clutter sidewalks.
City council members will discuss a raft of potential changes to Gilroy’s sign regulations at the end of the month. The informal policy talks, held Jan. 26 and 27, will likely cover two sets of regulatory changes – one for the downtown and another for Leavesley Road, 10th Street and other busy thoroughfares.
“It will be an effort to control the signs while giving businesses ample ability to advertise,” Community Development Director Wendie Rooney said. “Downtown you have slower traffic, a more dense environment. The geography and the physical setting is so different downtown than other areas that it will probably be treated differently.”
That could involve the creation of a monument or fixed directory on each block to direct shoppers to various businesses, according to Rooney. In other parts of the city, it could mean a permitting process that controls how long people can place temporary banners outside their businesses, and how long the signs can stay there.
“I wouldn’t characterize it as a crackdown, but as working to create new guidelines for signs,” Rooney said.
This is not the first time city leaders have discussed changes to sign regulations. Councilman Peter Arellano recalls tweaking regulations for real estate signs about three years ago, and he remains wary of over-regulation. Rather than constantly updating sign rules, he suggested improved design guidelines as a way to reduce the need for human billboards and other signs that clutter up streets.
“A lot of stores are set back in parking lots in strip malls so people put signs out on the streets to get attention,” Arellano said. “To a point I think it’s fair unless we ask people to put buildings up front against the street and the parking in the back. … As far as the guys walking around with signs, that doesn’t bother me. I think there’s more of a problem with people talking on cell phones while driving through intersections.”
