SEQUIM — The city has adopted an ordinance to bring signs directing motorists on South Sequim Avenue to local businesses into compliance with state law, and the attached fees for merchants have left several upset with the move.
The measure calls for removing the existing cluster of signs and incorporating them into a state Department of Transportation-approved blue reflective backdrop sign.
The ordinance was adopted unanimously by the City Council on Monday during its regular meeting.
The 15 business owners who already have signs on Sequim Avenue will have to pay for new placards with their logos for the new sign in order to also come into compliance.
On top of paying for a new logo placard, the owners will need to pay a onetime installation fee to the city, tentatively set at $200, and an annual permit fee of $35.
Those prices are expected to be set into stone as part of a schedule fee implemented at some point in November, said City Attorney Craig Ritchie.
The fees will be to help the city recoup the cost of purchasing two new reflective blue backdrop signs, which cost a total of $3,176.84, he added.
The city’s lodging tax paid $1,327.47, with the remainder paid for through the general fund.
“It is just that we need to recover our costs,” Ritchie said.
“The goal was to recover the costs, not to make money.”
Transportation provides information signs along state highways that direct motorists to local amenities including gas stations, restaurants, lodging, camping and tourist activities.
However, if a business advertised along the highway is located off of the main exit road, “follow-through” signs are required to lead motorists in the right direction to the services they require.
The follow-through signs must conform to state standards which dictate their size, thickness and reflectivity.
In the past, there has been no charge to participating businesses for the city to provide space for these signs or to maintain their posts.
The change has angered one local businessman who has already paid to have a sign commissioned and placed on site.
“I paid for my signs and paid to have them hung there,” said Rick Williams, owner of R & T Crystals at 158 E. Bell St.
“Why should I have to pay for a new sign when I already paid for the sign that is up there?”
Vance Willis, co-owner of Hi-Way 101 Diner at 392 W. Washington St., also wonders why he must pay for a new sign to replace the one already posted.
“There is no need to redo that sign,” he said.
Williams said his major contention is with the recurring $35 fee.
“The yearly fee is what I am set against. Why would I want to pay an annual fee for a sign I already paid for? What do they need more money for?”
“It just makes me so mad. As far as I am concerned, it is just them trying to suck money out of the business people.”
Ritchie said the city is cutting the businesses a break with the proposed fee of $200 because if the businesses were asked to pay for the entire portion of the project not covered by the lodging tax, they would be charged $211.80, Ritchie said.
Nora Polizzi, co-owner of A Dropped Stitch at 136 S. Second Ave., has already purchased a new state-compliant sign and will pay the $200 installation fee if necessary.
“We will do what we have to do” because it is worth the investment to attract visitors to the store traveling along the highway, she said.
Willis agreed the signs do drive business to his restaurant but remains displeased with the fees.
“Quite often we get people, especially summer visitors, that come in and comment that they had seen the sign and that is how they found us . . . though I continue to question” the added cost to business owners.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.