The great signage debate of 2011-2015 is over for now, with the authority for decisions about off-premises signs moving to the borough manager.

The Haines Borough Planning Commission recommended at its May 15 meeting that off-premises signs be regulated through a conditional use permit process, but the assembly instead accepted a memo by manager David Sosa and granted him the power to decide whether a business can have an off-premises sign.

The assembly didn’t hold a public hearing on the change. Since 2011, assembly members have held eight public hearings on two signage ordinances, but neither option included turning over those decisions to the manager.

Asked why the change didn’t warrant another public hearing, Sosa said staff didn’t see the adjustment from a conditional use permit process (decided by the planning commission) to a manager approval process as a big deal. “In our minds it was kind of a minor change,” he said.

Commission chair Rob Goldberg told the assembly he didn’t care who reviewed off-premises sign applications, as long as a review process existed.

“It doesn’t matter to me personally whether it comes to the planning commission or the manager,” Goldberg said. “Somebody needs to review it along the way to prevent, for instance, a business saying, ‘Well, I want to put up six off-premises signs to direct people to my business,’ when really they might only need one. Or to prevent someone from putting up something that may not really be acceptable to the neighbors or to the community.”

Goldberg also pointed out that giving the manager review and approval powers would save business owners the $150 conditional use permit application fee, although an existing sign permit fee of $25 will still apply.

(In addition to the $150 fee, the conditional use permit process requires a five-page application, borough posting of public notices on the application, and a public hearing at the planning commission level.)

“If it is a CUP, it is $150 for a person just to put a sign outside. That’s like paying the fine (for putting the sign out illegally),” Sosa said.

A permitting process for regular, on-premises signs already exists in code, and Sosa said he will use this process for determining whether to approve off-premises signs. “We’ll figure this one out. Obviously there will be some things that make for easy approval, some won’t,” he said.

Existing code regulates sign standards by zone and includes dimensional and placement standards.

Sosa said he didn’t think leaving the decision up to one person opened the door up for favoritism any more than having the planning commission make the decision. In each case, the person or people in charge take an oath to do their job with fairness in mind, and that acts as a safeguard, he said.

“I think no matter what you do at any level – whether it is at the level of a staffer, a manager, the planning commission or the assembly – there is always that possibility,” Sosa said.

If a person’s off-premise sign application is denied, he or she can appeal to the planning commission. Likewise, a neighbor or other resident who disagrees with the issuance of an off-premises sign permit can also appeal, Sosa said.

The borough is in the process of informing business owners with off-premises signs about the change and asking them to come apply for a permit. In the meantime, they will be able to keep their signs out, Sosa said.