Members of the Toledo City Council on Monday tabled a proposed ordinance that would update existing city code for business signs within city limits and sent it back to the Toledo Planning Commission for further amendments.
The motion to table came after several city councilors raised concerns about how the ordinance would affect existing businesses. The sign code update was drafted over the past several months by the Toledo Planning Commission and TRJ Planning Inc. consultant Todd Johnson.
Johnson explained that while existing code did prohibit local business or residents, it lacked guidelines for enforcement actions, especially for signs placed in public right-of-ways.
Toledo City Councilor Dan Anderson raised concerns about how the changes would affect existing local business signs already up throughout the South Lewis County community.
“The prohibited signs are mainly those things that are affixed and attached to public property, like poles and other things. For the signage that’s out there now that exists within the city right of way, those would be in violation of the existing sign code, and still enforceable under the proposed sign code, under this ordinance,” Johnson said. “So if the city enforces this, then those will have to be removed and moved outside of the public right-of-way.”
He added the signs were blocking city public works employees from conducting duties such as maintenance and lawn mowing on some of the right-of-ways, and the signs were potential public safety liabilities with their “unknown construction or durability.”
“That is one of the things the city was having issues with, is somebody was posting a bunch of bill-type signs on electric poles and sign poles, things like that, and they weren’t removing them,” said Johnson. “So that became a public works task at that point, to kind of keep the city clean. That was a city expense, because it was clearly against the rules, but there was really no enforcement keys in the previous sign code.”
For small businesses with signs already up, Anderson asked if they would instantly be subject to enforcement actions. Johnson explained old signs would be grandfathered in, but if a business owner took it down or changed it, they would need to apply for a permit and get their new sign approved.
Toledo City Councilor Jillian Niles asked if changing wording or numbering on a sign would also trigger the need for a new sign permit, and Johnson stated it would not.
Anderson still had concerns about a stipulation that business owners would only be able to place free-standing signs on their business’ physical parcels.
“The people that aren’t (on main roads), it says you can only put it on parcel frontage. Let’s say John, his parcel frontage is on Augustus Street. He ain’t getting much traffic going down Augustus Street,” Anderson added.
He felt many local businesses not located directly on the main road running through Toledo, state Route 505, which turns into Cowlitz Street and Kellogg Way in the town, including his own, would be put at a disadvantage by not being allowed to place their signs there.
One attendee, Toledo resident Larry Davidson, proposed having the city put up official signs advertising for local businesses in certain districts such as those in Chehalis.
“That standardizes all the signs so they have a nice look and feel for the town,” Davidson said.
After nearly half an hour of discussion on the issue, the council voted to table the issue, and asked Johnson to continue working with the Toledo Planning Commission to work on guidelines for businesses not on Route 505 wanting to advertise along the highway.
The draft updated city sign code can be found starting on page 40 of the Toledo City Council’s Aug. 17 meeting agenda packet on the city’s website at https://tinyurl.com/ykbm76y9.
During the council’s regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 17, councilors also gave their OK to Lewis County Fire District (LCFD) 2 Chief Chris Davidson to place a storage container behind the LCFD 2’s fire station in downtown Toledo.
He explained they needed the container to help with storage issues at the station and will paint it to match the fire house, though it would encroach slightly on the parking area behind the station.
“Given everything that the fire department does for the citizens, I think this is a very minimal ask for us to agree to,” Toledo Mayor Cherie Devore said.
Toledo City Clerk-Treasurer Rachel Campbell added the Toledo Lions Club also had their storage container in the same area.
Campbell also reiterated the city’s personal cellphone use policy and advised residents permitting services would temporarily be paused as she would be out of the office next week, but back by the end of the month.
She reminded residents about the cellphone use policy as, recently, residents have been trying to contact both her and other city staff on their personal cellphones concerning city utilities and other city business.
“I’ve been getting a lot of people reaching out to me via Facebook messenger, text message, stuff like that, like, ‘Hey, I haven’t paid my water bill, can you set me up with a payment plan?’ So we just want to get it on the record that we do not use our personal phones for city business,” Campbell said. “I won’t be responding to anybody via Facebook, and the girls and public works are also not allowed to correspond (on personal accounts).”
To contact Toledo city staff, visit Toledo City Hall during its normal business hours — 8 a.m. through 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with the walk-up window open from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday — or call 360-864-4564 or email specific staff.
Toledo City Utilities Assistant Clerk Caitlyn Palmason also challenged councilors to participate in the “Steps that Unite” walking challenge to begin September, with the challenge ending with a potluck barbecue event on Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. in Kemp Olson Memorial Park.
“You are now ‘Team Council,’ and we are going to invite the mayor of Winlock as well to join us, but your goal for the (first) two weeks of September, is to get 4,000 steps a day. We’re shooting for a million between four different categories. We have planning, city council, park board and city hall/public works. It’s an average of five people per group, and we’re going to try to get there,” Palmason said.
Devore stated there is also a vacancy on the Toledo Planning Commission and asked for those interested to apply for the seat. Applications can be found on the city’s website at https://www.toledowa.us/1360/Planning-Commission-Meetings.
