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Show Sign ordinance passes minus real estate ban by Christopher Smart When the smoke cleared at the Park City Council's June 28 meeting, the much-debated sign ordinance had passed without the section banning real estate signs. Following a lively and heated discussion in council chambers, the major proponent of the real estate sign ban, City Councilman Al Horrigan, made a motion that the sign ordinance be voted upon without the section on temporary signs. The section includes on-site real estate signs. The motion came after Park City Board of Realtors President Bob Ziegler asked that the municipality and realtors work together for a solution to the disagreement over on-site real estate signs. And while those work sessions have yet to occur, Ziegler suggested that compromises could be made along the lines suggested by Horrigan in a letter to real estate broker Vic Ayers. Among the stipulations in Horri-gan's Horri-gan's proposal were: all on-site real estate signs should be set back from the street; the signs should be parallel instead of at right angles to the street; the wooden yardarm posts should be eliminated; and the signs should be lowered. Horrigan later decided against the compromise, he said, because local realtors could not reach a consensus and the National Association of Realtors prevents the local board from limiting signs. But Ziegler told the Council that if they could come up with a restrictive ordinance, the 160-member local realty board could help the city with enforcement. However, City Councilman Tom Shellenberger said he had doubts about a compromise and would favor the elimination of real estate signs. Shellenberger said he has had many complaints about the visual clutter caused by the signs. He said that it is possible that the multitude of real estate signs in Park City hurts property values. "The signs make it look as if the area has problems," he said. But Councilman Jim Doilney was opposed to taking any action without the advice of the real estate community. "The process is poor where the city has to set guidelines for the betterment of the business environment." Doilney added that he didn't want the city to regulate real estate signs. The section of the sign ordinance dealing with temporary and on-site real estate signs has not been rescheduled for action by the Council. |