Annette Beard
GARFIELD -- Planning Commission members discussed banner signs and said the town needs a code enforcement officer to enforce ordinances.
Meeting a week early Thursday night because of the Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday of the month, planners reviewed Garfield's sign ordinance to make necessary changes. Planning Commission members been reviewing the town's current legislation regarding zoning, streets and signs to bring them up to date with the current needs.
Extolling the town's natural beauty and recognizing the impact the widening of U.S. Highway 62 may have on the community, planners read, changed and re-read the ordinance line by line, meticulously considering the wording.
"There needs to be uniformity ... predetermined so they know what we're expecting," Gayla Schuster said of the sign ordinance and consideration for persons applying for a sign permit.
The current ordinance was adopted in 2005. It is entitled "An ordinance establishing a procedure for regulating and controlling the location, design, quality and maintenance of signs visible to the public within the town limits of the municipality of Garfield."
Size of banners was discussed Thursday night. The 14-page ordinance addresses banners, billboards, construction signs, directional signs and more.
It allows one banner not to exceed 32 square feet for a freestanding banner or multiple banners covering not more than 20 percent of the structure to which they are attached. Planners discussed whether there needed to be a time limit on the banners; the current ordinance does not set a limit.
Bill McClain, president of the Planning Committee, and Schuster, Patricia Lee and Ellen King, were at the meeting.
General News on 11/25/2015