Thumbnail photo: The Tsunami Lane Bowling Alley received a permit for its digital sign about a year ago, however the sign has characteristics that aren't allowed in the Crescent City Municipal Code, City Attorney Martha Rice said. | Photo by Heather Polen Candace Tinkler was at odds with her colleagues as well as the Planning Commission over a proposal regarding signs on Crescent City’s main drag A Planning Commission proposal to allow digital signs that are up to 100-square-feet within city limits would lead to distracted motorists, light pollution and visual blight, the mayor pro tem said Monday. Furthermore, she warned, the City Council would be torpedoing its vision for Downtown Crescent City. “We’re trying hard to move forward, to modernize and improve, not only the safety, but the looks of our community,” Tinkler said, listing the community’s expansion of Beachfront Park, its Front Street improvements and the downtown visioning plan Crescent City staff sought community input on last week. “One of the things that concerns me is that as a town whose economy depends a lot on tourism, these kinds of signs, when they accumulate, it’s a lot of commercialism and it detracts from the idea that we are a distinct community.” While Tinkler was resolute in her opposition to the Planning Commission’s recommendations, Mayor Isaiah Wright and Councilor Ray Altman were more amenable to the Planning Commission’s recommendations. They didn’t want off-site advertising signs, but they were OK with digital signs as long as they didn’t exceed 32 square feet in size. Altman and Wright also agreed with the Planning Commission that digital signs could only contain static images. Those signs would be allowed in the city’s general commercial and highway services zones, primarily along the U.S. 101 corridor and up Northcrest Drive, according to City Attorney Martha Rice. Councilor Jason Greenough was absent. Crescent City Manager Eric Wier said staff will make changes to the existing ordinance and bring an introduction back to the City Council. A 32-square-foot digital sign at the Tsunami Lanes Bowling Alley started the debate. According to Rice, the owners had obtained a permit for their sign about a year ago. But the permit application didn’t indicate that the sign would depict rotating images, flashing lights, changing color intensity and offsite advertising — characteristics that aren’t allowed in the municipal code, she said. “The permittee, the Tsunami Lanes Bowling Alley owner, was offered (three) pathways forward,” Rice told councilors. “One option is to take the sign down. Another option is to apply for a variance. A third option would be to apply for an amendment to the sign regulations. He decided to apply for an amendment to the sign regulations.” The Planning Commission recommended new sign regulations on Oct. 16. In addition to dictating that digital signs can only contain static messages that would change no more than once every 15 seconds, the applicant may need to get a permit from Caltrans if their sign would be within 100 feet of the highway, according to Rice. There were also regulations restricting the sign’s brightness. As for offsite advertising, which included non-digital signs, they would only be allowed along the highway corridor and up Northcrest Drive, according to Rice. The Planning Commission also stated that a business could only display two offsite advertising signs within the city limits and that their size would be limited to 100 square feet maximum. Any offsite advertising would also count toward a business’s allowable sign area, Rice said. “The way our sign ordinance is written, it’s based on the linear square feet of your business or your parcel on the road frontage — you get a certain amount of signage (area),” Rice said. “Each business has a calculated amount of signage they’re allowed and this type of sign would count toward that allowable sign area.” A prominent digital sign in Crescent City, at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds, is on state property, so it’s not applicable to the city’s ordinance, Wier said. That sign is about 60 to 75 square feet in size, though because of its permanent signs above and below the digital space, it looks larger, Wier said. “The original size before the Planning Commission was 200 square feet,” he said. “They reduced it down to 100.” The fee for the sign permit is currently $50 to $75, Wier said. Tinkler, who is part of a committee focusing on the Downtown Specific Masterplan, not only referred that endeavor, she also mentioned a Caltrans grant the city is applying to make the highway corridor safer for all modes of transportation, including pedestrians. During that discussion, Wier had discussed widening the sidewalks, adding more greenery and reducing a lane on the northbound side of U.S. 101 past Front Street. Though it’s only 32 square feet large, the Tsunami Lanes sign is distracting, Tinkler argued. She said she recently had two teenagers in her car and used the sign as part of a discussion about distracted driving. “We already have discussed some of the safety issues of the highway. Ironically, we discussed that right before this,” she said. “We were already talking about people having a hard time crossing the highway to get to supermarkets and other shopping. I can’t see this being a positive look for our community in anyway.” Tinkler’s colleague, Councilor Ray Altman said many businesses have to shut down because it’s difficult to market themselves. He also pointed out that in addition to getting approval from Caltrans, someone wanting to erect a sign on U.S. 101 also likely needs a permit from the California Coastal Commission as well as “our little group.” “We shouldn’t make it impossible for a small business to market themselves,” he said. “If you’re going to be taking on a risky business like a bowling alley, you should be able to have a sign.” Wright said a 100 square foot size is ridiculous. He also said he didn’t want to bring offsite advertising into the city. “I don’t want big billboards erected on vacant lots,” he said.