Town considering amending sign code for real estate need

Sent to BOZAR for suggestions

The Crested Butte real estate community would like permission to post “open house” directional signs in town, leading potential buyers to properties for sale. The Crested Butte Town Council is afraid that could lead to a plethora of new signs on public property. So the issue has been sent to the Board of Architectural and Zoning Review (BOZAR) for consideration.

During the regular Town Council meeting on June 2, local real estate agent Glena Jernigan came before the council representing local brokers. “This is a suggestion to help a local business in town,” she explained. “Real estate is a business and we are just looking for a little assistance.”
Town building and zoning director Bob Gillie had suggested to the council that if they agree to allow such signs in Crested Butte, there should be limitations. He suggested that no more than two open house directional signs be placed for each open house. “You can pretty much get anywhere in town with two signs, I think,” he said. He also suggested limiting it so that any particular house in town could have no more than two open houses per month.
“Right now when there is an open house in town, there aren’t directional signs,” pointed out mayor Alan Bernholtz. “Houses get sold in the good times and not so many in the leaner times. The current sign code doesn’t make a big difference.”
“This would help expose the public to a property,” responded Jernigan. “This is an attempt to help a buyer in town. The real estate community typically focuses open houses on a particular area every Tuesday. We put signs out in all the other neighborhoods, with the exception of the town.”
Bernholtz then expressed concern over opening the proverbial can of worms. “I was approached by a service and a retail owner with businesses off of Elk Avenue asking for directional signs. Should we allow those as well?” he asked. “If they are having a sale on Saturday and want a sign, should we just say no?”
“Yes. We can say no,” responded councilmember Leah Williams.
“I doubt it,” retorted Bernholtz. “We need to be consistent.”
“These signs are different. They aren’t directional signs to a real estate office but rather to a particular home holding a particular event,” said Williams.
Town Council member Billy Rankin cited the proverbial law of unintended consequences. “We just made an amendment to the sign ordinance. Are we just going to keep getting requests to change our sign ordinance?” he asked.
“Where would they be placed? In front of parks?” asked councilmember Reed Betz. “Will people really drive around looking for open houses with gas at $4.50 a gallon?”
“A lot of people will,” said Jernigan. “The function of an open house is different from a listing. The nature of the exposure is unique and it is an opportunity for visitors or the general public to get an idea of what is here.”
Williams said she thought it reasonable to try to limit the placement of open house signs to a specific day and specific hours. She suggested allowing them, for example, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Chamber of Commerce director Christi Matthews thinks open houses are a draw for visitors. “I think they are more inclined to go and see an open house if they see a sign,” she said. “We have a lot of people coming to the visitor center looking for that type of information.”
Rankin suggested perhaps having one large sign at the Four-way Stop informing people that open houses were available for viewing that day. “Those interested could get a map inside the visitor center. We put event signs up at the Four-way all the time.”
Bernholtz said he would be more in favor of one sign at the Four-way Stop rather than “a bunch of signs all over town.”
“I do fear that the next thing you know we will have 15 open houses and now we have 30 signs all over town,” added councilmember Kimberly Metsch.
Councilmember Skip Berkshire wanted to outline the council concerns and “throw it back to the real estate community to come up with a solution.”
The rest of the council voted to refer the matter to the town staff and BOZAR for review. Gillie said he will come up with some restrictive language for the board to consider before the measure makes its way back to the council.