GILROY—After banning them everywhere but downtown, the city has moved to reverse that stand and allow A-frame signs in all business districts.
But businesses continue to complain that overly restrictive rules undermine their ability to do business—and to bring in sale tax dollars to city coffers.
At its March 5 meeting, the Gilroy Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of a revised version of the ordinance that upends an unpopular city policy on the A-frames.
“We want to open up A-frame signs to all parts of the city,” City Planning Manager Sue Martin said, adding that certain conditions like size and location must be adhered to.
The ordinance as written did not “accurately reflect” the city council’s intention to allow A-frame signs citywide and the proposed about face will now go to the council for consideration, she added.
Small businesses depend on A-frame signs as a primary form of advertising to draw in customers, said Gilroy Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Turner.
“This modification will allow business owners and operators to effectively advertise, promote their businesses and will enhance economic development efforts in Gilroy,” he said.
The city council embarked upon a controversial update to the city’s sign ordinance in 2014, following years of study by a special task force. In April, it banned A-frame signs everywhere but downtown, and the business community went up in arms.
Nearly a year after the law took effect, and after months of meetings with business owners about changes, some merchants are reaping the rewards while others say they suffer from the ordinance’s “unintended consequences.”
Outside Job Camarena’s boot repair shop on Monterey Street in downtown Gilroy is a red-painted, boot-shaped A-frame sign.
“You build up a clientele and it’s a marker for where you’re at,” said the owner of Wes’ Boot Repair, referencing his iconic sign.
Camarena said he didn’t have to remove the boot from outside his shop as a result of the 2014 ordinance so he doesn’t know how doing so might have impacted business.
“But I’ve been really busy,” Camarena said, as three customers walked through the door.
Outside of downtown, however, business owners remain hesitant to use A-frames—out of fear they’ll be fined—before the council acts on the commission’s proposal. Many have been notified by the city’s sign enforcement staff that continued use will result in penalties and fines, according to Turner.
“Thankfully, the planning commission approved modifications to the ordinance,” he said.
Roughly one mile from Camarena’s shop, at the intersection of 10th and Chestnut streets, others businesses say they’re suffering a loss in revenue as a result of the ordinance’s restrictions on other forms of advertising.
As part of a national franchise agreement, Taco Bell and McDonalds receive advertising from their corporate offices to use in local stores. But the city’s homegrown ordinance puts a damper on how much advertising goes in windows.
Some businesses that depend on window ads have seen a double-digit drop in revenue as a result, between 10 and 15 percent, according to Turner.
Taco Bell employees trim the window advertising by hand—stickers that advertise new items, for example—to avoid violating the ordinance, he added.
Temporary signs on windows cannot cover more than 25 percent of the window surface, according to the city’s municipal code.
“Merchandising on windows affects us somewhere between 12 and 14 percent in sales,” Weinerschnitzel owner Bruce Heller said. “When somebody talks about 12 to 14 percent of my sales, that’s a lot of money. And that’s tax base we’re losing too.”
McDonalds owner Steve Peat explained that his Gilroy store and the other 255 restaurants in the Bay Area all pay an advertising fee to “the mother ship,” and in turn the corporate office recommends and mails them the advertising.
“If we can’t put up what we’re supposed to, then we’re doing two things; we’re in conflict with the rest of our businesses and wasting money because I’m sending it to the mother ship and the mother ship is giving me something I can’t use,” Peat said.
Banner advertising is also restricted, and a single banner can’t stay up beyond 45 days, under city law. Businesses are limited to three banners that are subject to size restrictions based on the part of town.
New car dealers, however, are exempt from restrictions that prohibit balloons, streamers and other eye-catching objects that move in the wind—restrictions that apply in all other business sectors.
“You can’t generate a law that takes into account every person,” Mayor Don Gage said of the city’s effort to revise the sign ordinance. “My only goal was to make the community nicer. Tattered signs turn customers away…“There’s no way you can please everyone,” he said.
Nearly a year since the revised sign ordinance took effect, Councilman Perry Woodward said Gilroy “looks a whole lot better.
“There are issues that still need to be looked at,” he added, referencing the franchise agreements that govern window advertising at chains such as McDonalds and Taco Bell. “There is room for a few small refinements,” he said.
But enforcement of the ordinance has been a challenge for the city. Currently, the city’s code enforcement department—tasked with enforcing the sign ordinance and others—has one full-time and two part-time employees. The latter were hired after the ordinance took effect last year to add teeth to the law.
Since then, a full-time code enforcement officer switched departments and the city is now looking for his replacement, according to city staff.
“I don’t think it gets enforced,” remarked Planning Commissioner Steve Ashford at the March 5 meeting. “It’s a law we passed and we don’t do anything about it.”
• The city has issued 12 administrative citations to Gilroy businesses that violated the sign ordinance since June 2014, with attached fines ranging between $100 and $500. The citations were for mixture of prohibited A-frame signs and banners, according to Code Enforcement Officer Scott Barron.
• Hundreds of warning and courtesy notices with no attached fines were sent out to local businesses informing them of signage restrictions. The documents state that if businesses do not comply with the ordinance they could be subject to fines.
• Issuing citations are a “last resort” for the city, Barron said. Some business owners see citations as “the cost of doing business,” however, and Barron said some repeat offenders continue to put up prohibited signage.
