Council allows reader boards
October 27, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
By J.B. Wogan
Ruth Weaver, a senior at Eastlake High School, waited for two hours on a school night for a chance to talk about electronic reader boards with the Sammamish City Council. Weaver has been in student government since ninth grade.
“I’ve been in leadership in four years. I’ve been changing the reader board for four years. That has not been fun,” Weaver said, describing weekly efforts to change the school’s current sign by 228th Avenue and Northeast 4th Street. Weaver said students have to climb a ladder amid rain and wind for more than an hour at time.
“It’s just an unpleasant experience, but it’s something that we do because we care about the community,” she said. Weaver was one of a handful of residents and school officials that spoke in favor of making an exception in the city’s sign code to allow high schools to have electronic reader boards.
Administrators at Eastlake and Skyline high schools said electronic reader boards would save students class time, make changing the signs less dangerous, and provide an opportunity to advertise the school’s full range of weekly events, not just a football game or a weekend play.
They got their wish.
The City Council voted 6-0 in favor of a five-year pilot program that allows high schools on 228th Avenue to use electronic reader boards. (Councilwoman Kathy Huckabay was absent.) The signs can be 10 feet tall and up to 32 square feet in size with static messages that change once a minute.
While the end vote was unanimous, the council hammered out the specifics of the code allowance before making a decision.
City Councilwoman Nancy Whitten asked a troubleshooting question about the city’s commitment to electronic reader boards in the future.
“How many nonprofits, churches, schools, that kind of thing, might be looking to put up an existing sign?” she asked. “What happens after five years? At five years, are you going to tell everybody to take down these signs?”
Community Development Director Kamuron Gurol said that if the council opted to cancel the program after five years, the schools that built electronic reader boards would be able to grandfather in those signs.
City Attorney Bruce Disend declined to comment on the full ramifications of Whitten’s questions — whether local organizations might sue the city over a sign code that grants exceptions to high schools, but not churches or nonprofits. (Businesses can post electronic reader boards under the current code.)
Disend did say that after the five-year trial period, the city could not limit electronic reader boards to only high schools on 228th Avenue.
City Councilman Mark Cross said he was skeptical about giving the schools the height they had requested — above six feet — because he didn’t think they would be more effective.
But Cross’ major concern was the frequency of changing messages. If they changed too fast, they could be distracting to drivers, he said.
“I do not want to use Sammamish citizens as crash testers,” he said.
The council changed the minimum message time from five seconds to one minute.
Frank Santoni, who lives on Southeast Sixth Place, urged the council not to allow electronic reader boards. He was the only person who testified against them at the Oct. 20 meeting.
“These signs will proliferate and radically change 228th,” Santoni said.
He said that Sammamish’s main street could end up looking like Aurora Avenue in Seattle, if the council wasn’t careful. To allow the electronic reader boards would be “giving in to the special interests of the few,” he said.
Stan Bump, who lives near the intersection of 228th Avenue and Southeast 4th Street, suggested that the council avoid questions of fairness by erecting its own city-owned electronic reader board by City Hall.
The board could broadcast messages for schools, churches and nonprofits from one central location.
Bump is also a member of the Planning Commission, which recommended against allowing electronic reader boards.
In a previous public meeting, Bump rolled out a map showing roughly 50 different places that might want electronic reader boards in the city.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
Ruth Weaver, a senior at Eastlake High School, waited for two hours on a school night for a chance to talk about electronic reader boards with the Sammamish City Council. Weaver has been in student government since ninth grade.
“I’ve been in leadership in four years. I’ve been changing the reader board for four years. That has not been fun,” Weaver said, describing weekly efforts to change the school’s current sign by 228th Avenue and Northeast 4th Street. Weaver said students have to climb a ladder amid rain and wind for more than an hour at time.
Eastlake senior Michael Russo (in white) an sophomore Yazem Rashid change the sign in front of Eastlake that will likely be replaced by an electronic readerboard. Photo by Christopher Huber
“It’s just an unpleasant experience, but it’s something that we do because we care about the community,” she said. Weaver was one of a handful of residents and school officials that spoke in favor of making an exception in the city’s sign code to allow high schools to have electronic reader boards.
Administrators at Eastlake and Skyline high schools said electronic reader boards would save students class time, make changing the signs less dangerous, and provide an opportunity to advertise the school’s full range of weekly events, not just a football game or a weekend play.
They got their wish.
The City Council voted 6-0 in favor of a five-year pilot program that allows high schools on 228th Avenue to use electronic reader boards. (Councilwoman Kathy Huckabay was absent.) The signs can be 10 feet tall and up to 32 square feet in size with static messages that change once a minute.
While the end vote was unanimous, the council hammered out the specifics of the code allowance before making a decision.
City Councilwoman Nancy Whitten asked a troubleshooting question about the city’s commitment to electronic reader boards in the future.
“How many nonprofits, churches, schools, that kind of thing, might be looking to put up an existing sign?” she asked. “What happens after five years? At five years, are you going to tell everybody to take down these signs?”
Community Development Director Kamuron Gurol said that if the council opted to cancel the program after five years, the schools that built electronic reader boards would be able to grandfather in those signs.
City Attorney Bruce Disend declined to comment on the full ramifications of Whitten’s questions — whether local organizations might sue the city over a sign code that grants exceptions to high schools, but not churches or nonprofits. (Businesses can post electronic reader boards under the current code.)
Disend did say that after the five-year trial period, the city could not limit electronic reader boards to only high schools on 228th Avenue.
City Councilman Mark Cross said he was skeptical about giving the schools the height they had requested — above six feet — because he didn’t think they would be more effective.
But Cross’ major concern was the frequency of changing messages. If they changed too fast, they could be distracting to drivers, he said.
“I do not want to use Sammamish citizens as crash testers,” he said.
The council changed the minimum message time from five seconds to one minute.
Frank Santoni, who lives on Southeast Sixth Place, urged the council not to allow electronic reader boards. He was the only person who testified against them at the Oct. 20 meeting.
“These signs will proliferate and radically change 228th,” Santoni said.
He said that Sammamish’s main street could end up looking like Aurora Avenue in Seattle, if the council wasn’t careful. To allow the electronic reader boards would be “giving in to the special interests of the few,” he said.
Stan Bump, who lives near the intersection of 228th Avenue and Southeast 4th Street, suggested that the council avoid questions of fairness by erecting its own city-owned electronic reader board by City Hall.
The board could broadcast messages for schools, churches and nonprofits from one central location.
Bump is also a member of the Planning Commission, which recommended against allowing electronic reader boards.
In a previous public meeting, Bump rolled out a map showing roughly 50 different places that might want electronic reader boards in the city.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
Comments
Got something to say?
