Council members and planning commissioners recently discussed new code enforcement policies that went into effect Jan. 1 regarding improper sign use outside downtown Hollister shops.
The council voted in November to allow the city’s code enforcement officer to go after code violators instead of waiting for residents to complain about possible violations.
“We’ve written 200 tickets since the first of the year,” said Mike Chambless, the code enforcement officer and airport manager. “Twenty five of those tickets were for sign violations.”
He said signs were not the main issue for code enforcement during that period but acknowledged there were signs downtown that did not comply with the ordinance.
“I think it’s one thing when local businesses try to adjust to a new ordinance,” Mayor Ignacio Velazquez said. “It’s another thing when they post these signs.”
He said signs by realtors and developers along Union Road and downtown are “out of control.”
“We have some signs still up today that don’t comply with the sign ordinance,” said Planning Commissioner Carol Lenoir. “They’re ugly. They’re cluttering our neighborhood.”
Chambless said he worried about becoming the “aesthetic” police on whether a particular sign is ugly.
“I am partially color blind, and that would a bad idea,” he said. “You’re probably asking in the neighborhood of a 1,000 tickets a year.”
The mayor said that was the reason why the city council agreed to hire another employee to handle code enforcement, along with Chambless. The code enforcement office is still in the process of hiring that new person.
“Every action we take, we have to be prepared to take this to court,” Chambless said.
Still, members of the council and the commission said code enforcement was moving in the “right direction.”
“Downtown has already improved,” said Lenoir.
The mayor said people need to know there will be consequences for not complying with the ordinance.
“Once people start to see it looking better, they understand it,” he said.
The council and the commission also asked interim City Manager Bill Avera and city staff members to come back to them with recommendations regarding standalone “sandwich board” signs that advertise a business on a city sidewalk.
“I like them on the sidewalk as long as they’re small,” Lenoir said.
City attorney Bradley Sullivan warned about liability associated with sandwich board signs, such as someone running into them.
“The liability is there. It’s all a matter of foreseeability,” he said.
Councilman Victor Gomez said the city could allocate sign use depending on the width of the sidewalk and the size of the sign.
Brenda Weatherly, executive director of the Hollister Downtown Association, said she has no problems with the signs but suggested the city set a limit of one sign per business.
“If the HDA is recommending it’s OK, we should be following what they’re recommending,” the mayor said.
The sandwich board issue came up when Charisse Tyson, the owner of Johnny’s Bar and Grill, requested to add additional sandwich board signs to the sidewalk in front of her business on San Benito Street.
“Because my windows are dark, I’ve had people who said ‘they’re not open’ and they walk away,” she said. The signs would draw more people into her business, she said.
