ELY – Sign creep, and the increasing visual pollution of business advertising, sandwich boards and political messages has prompted the city of Ely to update, and actually start enforcing, their sign ordinance.

The problem is, most of the business district and associated advertising is located along Sheridan Street, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation regulates the sizes and location of signage along that street because it is a state highway.

In addition, MnDOT regulates all signage within 660 feet on either side of the main drag’s centerline, so Camp Street to the north and Chapman Street to the south are also included in that jurisdiction.

City Attorney Kelly Klun provided council members with recommended changes to the sign ordinance Tuesday night. The changes come after nearly a year of discussion between the planning department and the council’s planning and zoning committee.

“Generally, the state does not allow any unregulated signage, off premise (marketing for another company) or sandwich boards,” Klun said. “At this point, they have not regulated this in Ely, but it is something that may come up in the future.”

She noted that the city can add or delete any language from their sign ordinance, but ultimately, the state has jurisdiction over a large majority of Ely’s business district.

“Signs are freedom of speech,” she said, “but the city and state can regulate the time, matter and place (of those signs).”

Currently, the city code allows for a maximum sign size of two square feet for every one foot of street frontage, up to 125 square feet in total size. “Many of the lots are only 25 feet long, and some businesses, located on a corner lot, may have up to seven lots,” Klun said. The proposal is to remove the 125-square-foot maximum size requirement through a permit variance procedure.

Other areas of concerns with the current sign ordinance involve the use of temporary signs. “It is much easier to create vinyl signs these days than in the past,” she said. The current code allows temporary signs, for a special sale, promotion, or community event, to be up for 30 days. There is no size requirement, but a permit is required.

City Planner Gregg Cramer said there have been no permit requests for temporary signs coming through his office.

The proposal is to extend the temporary sign time limit to 90 days, no permit would be required and the maximum size for commercial or industrial would be 50 square feet.

Off site signage, where one business is advertised on another business’s building or property, is currently prohibited in the city code. The proposed change is to allow such signage as part of the maximum square footage allowance through a one-year special permit.

Klun cautioned that once a permit is issued, the city is not allowed to control or edit the content of the sign.

Sandwich or portable signs in a commercial area are generally prohibited by state statute. “The city code is unclear as to permitting, time, matter and scope,” she said.

The proposed changes include: no permit required, one sign per storefront, location at edge of curb on the property, maximum size of 42 inches by 24 inches, and must be removed daily.

Political or message signs are treated differently from candidate signs during election periods. Currently, signs supporting mining, clean water or other hot-button issues, are allowed - one per lot. “We see lots of multiple signs on one lot,” Klun said. The proposal is to enforce the code as written which allows one four-square-foot sign per residential lot.

Council member Paul Kess pointed out the obvious - a fair number of businesses in Ely are exceeding the law as it is written.

Klun noted that the current sign ordinance was put in place in the late 1980s. “A lot of the signs were present at that time,” she said. “It is very hard to track when the signs went up. Our approach is to enforce the code from this point forward.”

Council member Albert Forsman said he doesn’t want to signs in Ely similar to “the extremely vulgar and offensive head shop” advertisement located in Aurora. “That is a good reason to have a sign ordinance,” he said.

He said he is in favor of removing the maximum size limitation. “You can look at examples throughout our city where the business is covered with signs but it looks tasteful. I don’t think that people want their places to look bad.”

Political signs during election cycles are allowed on property from 46 days before the election to 10 days after the vote. “If your candidate loses in the primary, that sign must come down 10 days after that vote,” Cremer noted.

Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski said the city’s goal is to simplify the ordinance and variance process to keep administrative and enforcement costs under control. “We want an ordinance that is a little more black and white, that people can understand, and we want to educate the business owners as to the maximum sign square footage, and to define what a temporary sign is and how long it can by installed,” he said.

“Temporary signs are more readily available and we don’t want to get to the point where we have to issue permits for every single temporary sign that goes up,” he said.

The Planning and Zoning Committee and city staff will continue to work on proposed changes to the sign ordinance that will be brought before the council for approval.