Tough times make city's sign code a target

You won't have any trouble finding local businesses to complainabout the sign code.

Tom Palomares loves to recount a run-in he had with the city overwhether his sign, which read "The Hog Pit Smokehouse Bar and Grill,"was a violation because the word "bar" was in it. He put a piece ofwhite plastic over the offending word, although he ultimately wasallowed to use it.

Christine Glanz tells about putting up her $5,000 sign outsideher computer store at Houghton Road and Broadway in 2009, only tohave a city inspector reject it because it was three centimeters toobig. Even though the issue was resolved, she said, it was one moreaggravation on top of the flagging economy and trying to attractcustomers to the center after the supermarket anchor in her complexclosed.

Now operating out of her home, she's looking to start anotherbusiness. And when she does, it won't be in Tucson, but in a placeshe considers friendlier, such as Marana or Oro Valley.

Chris Willhoite said that even though major corridors come withhigher lease rates, he opted for space on Broadway for his months-old Hi End Tight Barber Shop. But when he put out signage to capturethose eyes going by, he was told he was in violation of the code.Turns out he could probably work it out with the city, but justmonths into his business, he said he doesn't have time to fight whathe fears will be a complicated battle.

With Mayor Bob Walkup handing over the keys to his office afterthis year, and with mayoral candidates from both parties saying thecity has to work on a perception - if not reality - of an anti-business climate, the complex issue of how to regulate signs is ripefor debate.

When Republican Shaun McClusky gives his stump speech aroundtown, he's been saying the code doesn't work for small businesses.

Nor does he buy the argument that in this day of websites andsocial media, physical signs are a relic of an old business model.

The Internet is great, McClusky said, "but I'm in the real estatebusiness. We can advertise a property on 18 websites on a dailybasis, but I get far more calls from dropping signs in front yards."

His GOP counterpart, Ron Asta, likewise said he'll call for areview. "I think it's arbitrary, and it hurts people," he said.

He said he'd start by looking at any variance approved during thelast five years, to see if those could just be codified in theregulations. "You don't want signs in the desert," Asta said, "but Ilike to see signs in the city. That means there's commerce going on;there's a buzz going on; there's stuff happening."

Democrat Jonathan Rothschild, an attorney who has said one of thetenets of his campaign will be to make Tucson more business-friendly, said he's open to ideas. "I want to help small-businesspeople with the issues they have with the sign code," he said.

Ernie Duarte, head of the city's Development Services division,declined interview requests. But if you're looking for a microcosmof Tucson's sign code at work, you could hardly do better than East22nd Street near Rosemont Boulevard.

There, Johnny Lohrman, general manager of Thoroughbred Nissan, isstill sore that the city made the company tear down a steel andaluminum sign that had been in place for 49 years.

After the dealership purchased a storefront formerly used forretail purposes and converted it to a body shop, the city determinedthe change in use meant that the sign, which didn't conform toupdated code, had to go. The sign was 197 square feet and 36 feettall - far greater than current caps of 50 square feet and 10 feettall.

From Lohrman's perspective, the sign, with its big letters andneon features, was a meaningful example of an American architecturalera. Since it was approved at the same time the building was builtin 1960, he said, the two were meant to go together. He got the headof the local historical commission to agree.

From the neighborhood and environmental perspective, it was aneyesore. As Ron Spark of El Encanto Estates argued in a letter tothe city, it would be a charade to classify "older, oversized,grotesquely ugly signage" as historical.

And from the perspective of his direct competitor, Bruce Daley,who owns Thoroughbred Paint & Body, it would give Lohrman's companyan unfair advantage.

Daley has had his own sign code issues, which is part of thereason his building is bright pink, even though he'll be the firstto acknowledge it's not the most eye-pleasing option.

He wanted a sign perpendicular to 22nd so cars don't pass rightby and go to the competitor's shop, but said the 30-inch A-framesign the city allowed "was never a viable option." Too small. Toomuch of a safety hazard.

So he bought a truck, painted his business name on the side andparked it out front, only to be told to move it from the right-of-way.

He then moved it inside his lot, only to be told he was violatingthe parking code by using two parking spaces.

Hence, the pink - as in, "You can't miss us. We're the pinkbuilding."

Palomares, of the Hog Pit, also has been at odds with the cityover other signage, most recently a hot dog cart with banners on itthat he used to advertise specials on the corner. He ended up paying$300 in fines, and the city is watching him as a repeat violator.

He's in Chapter 11 now, which he doesn't lay exclusively - oreven primarily - on the sign code, pinning the economy as the mainculprit. Still, he said, signs help in down times, and the citydidn't help him fight back. When his restaurants were at the top oftheir game, he generated $32,000 in city sales tax revenues, hesaid. After last year, he'll turn over about $6,000.

"The city depends on sales taxes to survive and yet somehow, theyhave this sign code that's out of whack with reality. And when youtry to make corrections in it, it's like pulling teeth."

Mark Mayer, a neighborhood activist who cut his political teethculling billboards and has been a key figure in sign codediscussions ever since, says he's concerned that the council hasmade too many concessions to business.

When the council recently tossed a proposal to put morerestrictions on banners, he said, "they were just falling overthemselves to say who was the most business-friendly."

There's a good reason to be concerned about aesthetics, Mayersaid. "We live in the Sonoran Desert. The appearance of thecommunity really matters for our own quality of life here, includingeconomically."

The fact there are few suggestions for precise changes doesn'tsurprise Republican Councilman Steve Kozachik.

"It's easy to talk about the sign code and the land-use code andother hot-button issues, but when you get down to saying whatspecifically you should do, that's when you find out there's soundbites and there's reality."

Large companies, which have more political sophistication, arebetter able to navigate the bureaucracy, Kozachik said. It's the mom-and-pop companies, who are less familiar with the inner workings ofthe city, that need more help.

"The reality is that I don't want to go back to Life Magazine's'Ugliest Street in America.' I do think you need a balance there."

Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at rbodfield@azstarnet.com or 573-4243.