Politics & Government

Lakewood Chamber of Commerce: City's Sign Code Too Strict

Permit process and cost unfair to small businesses, says Chamber president. City Council considering revision to ordinance at tonight's meeting.

Linda Smith, the president of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, wants the city's temporary sign codes to be more business-friendly.

The permitting process and cost, she said, does not reasonably accommodate small businesses. Chamber staff met with Lakewood officials about a month ago to discuss a potential revision of the ordinance. The City Council will hear testimony and vote tonight at the 7 p.m. public meeting.

A business must apply for a temporary sign code and pay the city a minimum of $35. The permit expires after two weeks, so the business must wait one week and file another application (and pay another fee) if it wants to post the sign again. Sandwich boards or other mobile signs, like feather banners that stick into the ground, are the most common. There are more than 4,000 businesses in Lakewood and some—if not many—promote without proper temporary sign permitting.

Find out what's happening in Lakewood-JBLMwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Many local businesses are unaware of the code, and the Chamber is supporting a code revision that allows free promotion of one single temporary sign during normal business hours for as long as the business chooses.

The Lakewood City Council, along with the planning advisory board, adopted a more stringent code in 2001. Increased regulations on how a business can visually promote itself are not heavily enforced on major roadways in Lakewood because egregious signs had been taken down, said principal planner Dan Catron.

Find out what's happening in Lakewood-JBLMwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Smith believes this is not the time to charge additional fees to a relatively large small-business community.

"We don't have a grid-like pattern," Smith said. "We have a lot of small business off the beaten path. They need all the help they can get for people to find them."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Lakewood-JBLM