On-Going Struggle to Reduce Sign Pollution

Despite a great deal of time, words and effort we are still working on this one. We've tried a variety of approaches. Letters to the editors, serving on committees, meeting with developers, presenting before the council, meeting with Scottsdale officials ...   Here are two letters of many. 

August, 1999, Letter to Newspapers  March 200, Letter to Developers

August 1999, Letter to Newspapers (Shame Approach)

TO: Laura Berry, Arizona Republic
FROM: Friends of the Scenic Drive

August 18, 1999

During a recent visit to the Boulder, Colorado area, I could not help but compare what I was seeing as a visitor to what I see every day as a resident along Scottsdale’s scenic corridors, which include parts of Shea, Scottsdale, Pima, Happy Valley and Dynamite Roads. In particular, I thought about Scottsdale Road and how Maricopa County’s 3 decades-old gift is disappearing. But first, more about Boulder.

Boulder County, Colorado is known around the world for its aggressive open space program. But the cities in the Boulder area have done more than preserve open space. They have revised their sign ordinances to showcase the natural beauty that differentiates their area. As I drove around the greater Boulder area I noticed that many of the roads that are outside the downtown commercial areas have very few signs of any kind. Even Rt. 36, the major highway into the Boulder area from Denver, has few signs. There are fewer real estate development signs, fewer traffic directional signs and what signs there are have less visual impact.

The cities in the Boulder area are growing very rapidly. New homes are going up everywhere. Have fewer and smaller signs detracted from the ability of developers to sell homes? Everything that I saw and heard says "NO"! By showcasing their strengths and conveying a quality image, the more restrictive sign ordinances in the Boulder area have helped the market for both new and pre-owned houses. Everybody wins!

I noticed that most real estate signs do not exceed 4’ in height and 6 square feet per face. You see them but you can see over them. Off-premise signs are banned. I did not see any large "temporary" off-premise signs resembling our, "You Passed ABC Homes 6 Miles Ago." In addition, it appears that they make an effort to use a single low, relatively small, tasteful sign to identify multiple developments. I didn’t see any of the monoliths that are found on Tatum Road in Phoenix (and now making their way up the west side of Scottsdale Road north of Bell). I did not see any of the "cardboard on a stick" development directional signs that litter our scenic corridors every weekend. Scottsdale’s current ordinance allows 10 of these per development. Given the number of developments underway in the north Phoenix and north Scottsdale and some simple math and you have a case of sign pollution. And, that is if the developers stayed within the law which they have repeatedly shown they are unable to do.

The City of Boulder’s Sign Code can be viewed on the Web at www.ci.boulder.co.us/. Just select "Boulder Revised Code, 1981", then "Title 10", then "Chapter 11". Incidentally, "Political signs" are allowed for legal reasons (section 10-11-5 I 2).

The changes that I have mentioned would help restore a long-ignored gift. Back in the 60s when Maricopa County established the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, the County banned billboards north of Jomax Road in order to showcase roadside plants and the unique scenery. That was their gift to us! But large development signs now negate the benefits of the County’s 3 decade’s old gift. Have you seen the row of big real estate signs on the east side of Scottsdale Road south of Dixeleta? I’m sure it reminds some tourists of the highways leading to major airports in Third World cities like Beijing and Nairobi. In those cities the rows of tacky signs are for U.S. electronics companies. Here the signs promote U.S. real estate developers.

If we have the will, we can stop the vanishing act. I hope our civic leaders and planners visit the Boulder area and see for themselves what eliminating a few signs can do. Competing with Phoenix and Tempe in terms of ambiance just does not cut it. We should learn from Boulder and places like it—there is no need to spin or re-invent the wheel. Scottsdale has a strong sign ordinance that needs to be improved in a few areas. And our scenic corridors are in picturesque areas. The Boulder area is a wide-open environment. We have many, diverse native plants – many warehoused in City of Scottsdale’s nurseries - that can be used to screen development from the view of passing motorists. Screening man-made structures combined with speedy action to reduce the size, number and type of real estate development signs would go a long way towards re-capturing the desert character of our roadsides and enhancing Scottsdale’s reputation as a quality place to live and visit. The alternative is to continue to let those strengths and Maricopa County’s gift be swallowed up by the onrushing "geography of nowhere" where every place is like no place in particular.

Les Conklin