At the July 21 city council meeting, council members decided that the sign code is in need of some housecleaning.

Willamette University recently applied for permits to upgrade their Bush Pasture Park scoreboard to an LED screen.

Since scoreboards are currently considered signs under the sign code they fall under certain restrictions. However, scoreboards are intended for viewing inside stadiums and have little to no impact outside the stadium.  

"We wanted to make sure that the signs would only be on during the times that people were actually in the outdoor facilities," Tom Anderson said, vice chairman of South Central Association of Neighborhoods.

During the meeting, staff recommended that council adopt a bill which would clean up the sign code and eliminate the need for permits for this kind for stadium scoreboard.

Signs that are currently exempt are indoor signs less than eight square feet.

According to a proposal given to the city council the purpose is to maintain a clean and orderly appearance to the public and to prevent visual clutter throughout the city. There
were also safety concerns involving LED signs and passing traffic.

The staff has recommended that the city council adopt this new code since the current one has not undergone a comprehensive review in many years. The sign code has several redundancies and language that is unclear.

The intent for the city sign code is to regulate time, manner and placement of signs within the city of Salem.

"From our point of view we don't see these as minor changes, we view them as important ones and we support them," Anderson said.