Wasilla City Council votes to clarify signage ordinance

WASILLA — The six-member Wasilla City Council, four of whom are on ballots this election season, voted unanimously to approve Ordinance No. 16-20 on Monday night, clarifying standards and penalties for improperly placed signs of all sorts in city limits.

Not limited to campaign signs, this includes signage for yard sales, lemonade stands, realtor signs, etc.

Public Works director Archie Giddings and Police Chief Gene Belden, said clarifying the city’s enforcement of removing signs was necessary after people would wonder, and then complain, about their signs being taken down.

“Previously, we’d just pick up the signs, put them in the garbage can and go,” Belden said. “In lieu of giving a $300 citation for each sign we pick up, this is a little more friendly, so to speak. If you want your sign back, you can pay $25.”

By the time council members were done making amendments to the ordinance, the fee had been reduced from $25 to $10, and the original language requiring the city to hold the signs for 10 days, was increased to 15 days, both amendments per suggestion of council member Stuart Graham, who participated via teleconference. Graham’s amendment to have the first offense waived, however, was voted down.

When finally voted on, the ordinance passed 5-0 and reads, in summary: “…unpermitted signs in a public right-of-way are unauthorized encroachments. This ordinance further clarifies that unauthorized encroaching signs are subject to removal by the city without notice and that the signs will be held for 15 calendar days before disposal. Lastly, this ordinance establishes a procedure for signs to be recovered by the owner within the 15-day period upon payment of a fee of $10 per sign.”

The ordinance goes into effect Sept. 1.

Mayor Bert Cottle said his office wanted the ordinance amending Municipal Code 12.16 because city employees had ‘better things to do’ than pick up signs, and because business owners commonly complained about competing signage.

“It’s just been a revolving door. We wanted to add some consistency and make it as clear as we could,” Cottle said. “A lot of people will say, ‘you’ve got my sign once… how do I do this right?’ And we have 2,100-some businesses in the city. We don’t want this to look like a circus with everybody putting up signs.”

The biggest confusion in signage, especially during a political season, involves the words ‘right-of-way.’ That’s what piqued the interest of council member — and state senate candidate — David Wilson recently.

“I think I started a lot of this inadvertently,” Wilson said. “I had a couple signs picked up. So I contacted the city trying to figure out what the rules are. It’s a little subjective, so I went to city hall and got the (12.16) ordinance, but it was confusing… It’s hard trying to figure out what’s the right thing.”

Council member Tim Burney echoed that confusion.

“I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes putting my signs out, and there’s some nice language in the code, but the layman doesn’t know where to find it or read it,” he said. Giddings said the Mat-Su Borough has ‘great map lines with aerial photography’ and that his office would be willing to answer questions from anyone as to what the right-of-way is at any location.

“We can do a better job educating people or better mapping systems. I left (city hall) with a bewilderment… I can do this, but I can think of other folks, like organizations doing some type of initiative — they’re not all educated enough to make that discernment,” Wilson said.

Cottle added that he, too, has been burned by sign removal.

“As a politician I’ve had my signs seized by DOT,” he said “They wanted $300 for it, so I said, ‘keep the sign.’”

City council member and deputy mayor Gretchen O’Barr, who will be on the Oct. 4 ballot defending her seat, wasn’t as sympathetic to the plight of her fellow pols.

“When I put up signs three years ago, every single one I asked the property owner and they knew where the lines of right-of-way were, and never once were my signs taken down,” O’Barr said. “I made sure; I have a map of the city of Wasilla and I knew where every single sign was. I had permission for it to be where it was. It’s not that hard to make sure you put it in the right spot.”

In other actions, the council announced that on Aug. 22 the current Wasilla City Library will be closed to begin moving to the new library location with a ribbon cutting set for 2 p.m. on Sept. 22.