AUGUST 18, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7
Sign code revisions get fi rst look
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer Planning Com-
mission wrangled with the fall-
out from a recent U.S. Supreme
Court decision during its Aug.
9 meeting.
City staff presented a host of
changes to Keizer’s sign code
that brings the city into line
with the Supreme Court’s de-
cision, clears up some areas of
ambiguity, and will grant addi-
tional latitude to business own-
ers regarding signage.
In the Reid vs. Town of Gil-
bert judgement, the Supreme
Court determined that sign
codes need to be content-neu-
tral, which is another way of
saying the code cannot suppress
freedom of speech. That caused
an issue for Keizer because it
has rules applicable only to real
estate and political signs.
Community Development
Director Nate Brown said that
staff was suggesting small ad-
justments rather than a major
overhaul because “every ad-
justment has ramifi cations. The
main objective of any sign code
is identifi cation of place and
balanced visual access to the
public.”
A public hearing on the is-
sue will be continued at the
commission’s September meet-
ing, but the commission re-
viewed and offered input on
the suggested changes.
Some of the proposed al-
terations include:
• Allowing for a wider vari-
ety of geometric shapes.
• Placing signs for real es-
tate, elections, government
signs and non-profi t signs into
a larger category of temporary
signs.
• Allowing temporary signs,
such as banners, to be attached
to buildings for up to 120 days
within a 12 month period.
• Allowing portable signs
and feather fl ags to be placed
one-per-storefront with a 10-
foot separation.
• Creating a new section
that permits special signage
for grand openings and special
sales.
• Allowing electronic signs
to change once every 60 sec-
onds – the current code limits
changes to once every 15 min-
utes – and allowing them to be
attached to walls.
• Allowing smaller, second-
ary frontage signs for all busi-
nesses. The current code only
allows such signage in Keizer
Station.
The proposed changes are
the result of staff input and
conversations with the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce.
The
most-talked-about
change was allowing elec-
tronic signs to change more
frequently. The current limit of
once every 15 minutes falls far
outside the industry standard
of once every eight seconds.
In Keizer, there is even greater
limitation on electronic signs
associated with public entities,
such as Keizer Fire District and
McNary High School. Those
messages can only change once
per day, but would be treated
the same under the new code if
the changes are approved.
Jonathan Thompson, speak-
ing on behalf of the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce Board
of Directors, told commission-
ers that the Chamber preferred
the eight second standard.
we had to share between every-
one in there,” Briley said. That’s
one of the reasons for the pro-
posed change to portable signs
and feather fl ags. If the change
is approved, a space like Keiz-
er Plaza will be allowed more
overall signage.
Briley also said he has
trouble attracting attention of
southbound drivers on River
Road North despite having a
sign on his River Road front-
age wall. The problem is that a
tree planted for the purpose of
beautifi cation now completely
obscures the sign.
“Our urban renewal pro-
gram sought to plant green
trees along River Road, but
that competes with the visual
space available for business,”
Brown said.
As far as input from the
commission, there was some
support for both the more
rapid change of electronic signs
and some that preferred lon-
ger times, but the majority ap-
peared to feel a 60-second rate
of change was ideal.
Chair Hersch Sangster told
staff “you’re on the right track.”
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
A Keizer Mart sign completely obscured by a tree planted for
beautifi cation highlights one of the confl icts between policies.
one of the changes in the code
and a space where confl ict be-
tween competing goals has
arisen.
Keizer Mart is located in
Keizer Plaza with 12 other
businesses and Briley drew the
ire of some of them when he
began placing signs outside
promoting new ownership and
other aspects of the business.
“We were unaware that
there was any kind of restric-
tion and I later found out that
“One of the reasons that
folks want the eight seconds
was what we saw when police
went up and down River Road
asking businesses to put up
messages about the fee hear-
ing. It would be easier to post
something like that in with a
message from my business,”
Thompson said.
Testimony from Justin Bri-
ley, one of the new owners of
Keizer Mart on River Road
North, revealed the need for
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