PORT TOWNSEND — Teams from the city of Port Townsend, Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce and Port Townsend Main Street will be visiting 49 local businesses with sandwich-board signs in the two historical districts sometime within the next couple weeks.

The visits could begin as early as this week, said Suzanne Wassmer, city land use development specialist.

The teams’ message will vary.

About 17 businesses are in violation of city code and will have to remove their signs from sidewalks, Wassmer said. Thirty-two others fall into a variety of categories.

Fifteen have permits but no proof of insurance, eight are eligible for permits but haven’t applied, and nine have signs in multiple-business buildings and will have six years to comply with the single-sign requirement.

Only two are what Wassmer calls “gold star” businesses, which have the proper permits and insurance.

They are the Owl Sprit Cafe, which opened in June on Polk Street downtown, and Seams To Last, a children’s clothing store on Tyler Street.

After some controversy over a citizens committee recommendation to ban all sandwich-board signs, the Port Townsend City Council updated its practices late last summer to continue permitting them on sidewalks for businesses that don’t have street-level frontage on Water and Lawrence streets, the main arterials in the downtown and uptown historic districts.

Enforcing compliance

It also decided to begin enforcing compliance, which it had never done, on a regular schedule.

There was no change to the 1992 code, Wassmer said.

“What changed is that now we’re following through,” she said.

Some businesses, especially those that have changed hands, may not know of their compliance status, she said.

Earlier visits to about 20 real estate and other businesses that had been using sandwich signs on upper Sims Way and other streets near the gateway into town have resulted in removal, Wassmer said.

Other businesses that lie far outside the city’s main shopping areas and nonbusiness entities like churches may still qualify for so-called “departure” permits for sandwich-board signs to guide patrons in their direction.

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Julie McCormick is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. Phone her at 360-385-4645 or e-mail juliemccormick10@gmail.com.