By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
After a year under the microscope, Whitewater officials revamped the city’s sign ordinance to sync it up with a pivotal federal ruling.
The Common Council on Jan. 19 held a second, and final, reading of Whitewater’s revised sign ordinance. Tweaks to the existing document occurred throughout 2020 within multiple meetings of the Plan and Architectural Review commission before going to the council in December for the first reading.
The decision to overhaul Whitewater’s sign ordinance was spurred by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
In the Arizona-based case of Reed v. Town of Gilbert, federal judiciaries invalidated a municipal ordinance that treated signs different, based on content. The decision has been cause for local governments across the country to ensure their sign ordinances are content neutral to stave off legal challenges.
While last month’s preliminary iteration of the ordinance in Whitewater reflected a hands-off approach, a number of concerns still were shared as elected officials and residents weighed in during a lengthy discussion.
For example, speakers last month shared concerns about provisions within the ordinance on the size and number of signs on a property and how new regulations could hinder promoting such community events as the Discover Whitewater run-walk fundraiser that takes place each fall.
Resident and local businessman Jeffrey Knight, who is one of the organizers of Discover Whitewater, spoke at the Jan. 19 meeting and said he was pleased with changes incorporated into the document in the past month to loosen restrictions.
“I wanted to thank the council for their attention and for listening,” Knight said. “I think this helps the nonprofits in the community. It’s essential to their survival.”
Because of the complexity of the ordinance, Whitewater officials brought into the fold an outside firm, Vandewalle and Associates, since the urban planning specialists have assisted other municipalities in ensuring their sign codes are compliant.
Ben Rohr, assistant planner with Vandewalle and Associates, has been working with city staffers for much of the past year.
Speaking to changes incorporated into the document within the past month, Rohr said, “We did hear comments at the last meeting, both from council members and the public. We took our best shot at addressing them in the ordinance, and that is reflected in the final draft.”
During his outline of the changes, Rohr said one of the most notable changes was in response to the concerns Knight and others within the community shared at the last meeting.
“The most significant (change) is related to non-commercial signage,” Rohr said. “We took the approach of adding a new sub-section … and defined non-commercial signage. City staff feels comfortable in distinguishing between commercial and non-commercial signage.”
The non-commercial signage is broad and sweeping to maintain the content-neutral approach, Rohr said. In some cases, this might even include the usage of interactive digital signage for community events, political campaigns, advocacy messages for political causes, and religious programs.
Of the prior restrictions in the city’s ordinance, Rohr said, “We wanted to remove them to be compliant with the U.S. Supreme Court decision. This has been an ongoing process, from basically a full year to this point.”
