Aug. 16 — County gets tough on signs

Pilot sign enforcement program takes proactive measures against signs in rights of way

Chris Albert / of the Herald

The commercial sign enforcement effort in Pierce County is moving along.

Public Works road crews removed 3,601 signs as of Aug. 10, wrapping-up phase one and two of a four-month pilot program that began July 11.

“We had an absolute crisis in the area,” said Roger Bush, Pierce County Council member and sponsor of the pilot program ordinance. “I think we can all benefit from the improved safety and improved beauty. I know it’s been a long-time coming, but the results have been amazing.”

It is an effort by the Pierce County Council to find out where problem areas are and how much enforcement is going to cost to keep commercial signs off of county rights of way, said Bruce Wagner, road operations division manager for Pierce County Public Works and utilities, who’s department is in charge of putting that information together.

Commercial signs include ever thing from real estate and developer advertisements to notices for garage sales. They aren’t allowed by law to be on the county right of way, Bush said.

The area that was targeted for the program was State Route 512 East to 224th Street and Interstate 5 to Meridian Street. That area was chosen because of it’s high density of commercial property, Wagner said.

The visual clutter was not only unsightly, but illegal and a safety hazard to drivers, Bush said.

Before the ordinance went into effect the county worked with the commercial industry, mainly real estate and developers to educate the industry about what was legal.

“I’m very pleased with the positive partnership that developed,” Bush said.

Businesses acknowledged that there was a problem and have worked hard to educate their employees about compliance, he said.

Real estate and development industries removed about 50 percent of the signs before the program began, Bush said.

“We’re trying to give people the chance to comply,” Bush said. “It isn’t our desire to penalize people.”

Non-compliance could lead to a $250 fine and violators will be prosecuted, he said, but they will be given a chance to comply.

The program is broken into four phases: phase one being the removal of signs, phase two consists of contacting the owners of the signs and phase three would be to sweep the same area mapping out problem areas and repeat offenders and phase four would focus on discussing policy changes or adoptions that are needed.

Road crews went through all the major arterials in the designated area, picking up sign after sign. In many cases, they were able to pick up a number of signs, because they would be in clustered in one spot. One sign goes up and other people put up more signs, Wagner said.

“That’s where the real crutch of the problem is,” he said.

Beforehand, notifications went out to different commercial groups, as well as a broadcast notification on Pierce County television.

“Picking up the signs is kind of the easy part,” Wagner said.

A report from public works will be given to the council that outlines the problems, the estimated cost of enforcement and possible options. Then the council will decide what needs to be done in the future.

The average for county rights of way is 60 feet from the street center-line, but that isn’t always the case, Wagner said.

Rather than pay for surveying of every designated area to determine the right of way, road crews followed reliable boundaries, he said.

Utility poles, phone pedestals, water meters and the back slope of ditches are good indications of where the right of way ends, Wagner said.

Each sign was inputted into a tracking system of where the sign was placed and who placed it there, he said. The cost of removing signs was about $13,000 and $40,000 is earmarked for the entire program, Wagner said.

“We hit it pretty close,” he said, as far as how much they figured it would cost to remove signs.

Phase three should start by the end of the week, Wagner said, where crews will find out who is complying.

“Is there an entity who is not paying attention,” he said.

After the signs are removed, the owner is notified about the rules and that they can pick up the sign within 14 days at the Puyallup Road Shop. If it is not retrieved within 14 days, the sign is disposed as roadside litter, Wagner said. They are also given a copy of the ordinance by fax or e-mail if they request it.

“We’re the tool in the box to deal with the problem,” Wagner said.

Notifying sign owners can be troublesome, because most of the signs don’t have an address, but only a phone number or e-mail. So after the department filters owners of multiple signs they notify the owners.

The job is new for the department, who up to this point have dealt with sign issues that are hazards to traffic, create a sight distance problem or drainage problem. Under the new program, they have taken a proactive approach about removing signs, Wagner said.

“This is more about enforcement and aesthetics than road maintenance,” he said.

The business community understands and often asks how they can comply with the law, Wagner said, while the general public has commented on how much nicer the streets look.

Written permission from the county is required to place any sign on county right of way, besides regulatory signs and mailboxes.

Reach Reporter Chris Albert at 253-841-2481 Ext. 313 or by e-mail at chris.albert@puyallupherald.com.