Sierra Vista City Council OKs sign walkers, looks at wards and shopping site plats

By Laura Ory
Herald/Review
Published/Last Modified on Friday, Dec 12, 2008 - 05:12:15 am MST

Font Size

SIERRA VISTA — Sign walkers in the city are legal.

The City Council on Thursday approved a development code amendment to allow sign walkers, or “any person who wears, holds, or balances” advertisement signs, in the city.

In its final regular meeting of the year, the council members also tasked a commission to review the city’s electoral system and approved a couple of development projects.

The state required municipalities to make sign walkers legal in their communities this year, said Community Development Director Jim Herrewig.

Sign walkers will be able to advertise for businesses on public sidewalks but cannot stand on medians, block clear vision or interfere with access for the disabled.

The city also will look at whether wards are better in 2009.

The City Council tasked the Citizens’ Advisory Commission to study a ward electoral system compared to the current at-large system in place. The commission is expected to make a recommendation to the City Council on the issue by April 30.

The Marketplace, a commercial subdivision by Castle & Cooke, also was approved by the council.

The preliminary and final subdivision plats, including four commercial plats and a parking lot and trailhead for Garden Canyon Wash park were approved for the 6.5-acre lot at the southwest corner of Buffalo Soldier Trail and Highway 92.

Sierra Vista also will be going after grants to improve walks to Carmichael Elementary School and help construct the extension of Avenida Escuela.

Nearly $300,000 in grants will be requested from Arizona Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School Program was approved by the City Council. The funding requested would be used to construct new sidewalks and bike lanes along the road and educational materials for the school.

The city also will apply for a $500,000 Arizona Department of Commerce Economic Strength Grant to extend Avenida Escuela from Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway to the city Stone Complex sports fields. The road extension is expected to bring an economic benefit to the city by allowing access into the adjacent Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and other businesses expected to be built to the east.

In other business, city Library Director David Gunckel was recognized at the meeting as the recipient of the 2008 Arizona Library Association’s Distinguished Service Award.

Gunckel was in Phoenix on Wednesday when he received the association’s highest honor for his work and advocacy on behalf of libraries at the state and national level, said Assistant City Manager Mary Jacobs.

Gunckel thanked the council, city staff and library staff for their work in helping develop a good public library.

“Each of you own a little piece of this as well,” he said.

Dennis Harrington also was awarded for his 11 years of service on the Parks and Recreation Commission, contributing much to the city including work on parks planning, said John Startt, Parks and Leisure Services director. Harrington took over for the seat vacated by Oscar Yrun in 1997.

“I just hope I was half as successful as he was,” Harrington said.

The last City Council meeting of the month will be a work session with the lobbying firm Triadvocates, at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at City Hall. The work session will cover upcoming changes in government at the state and national levels.

City offices will be closed Dec. 25 and 26.

During Thursday’s City Council meeting:

• An ambulance transportation agreement between the city fire department and Sierra Vista Regional Health Center was approved. The fire department will be providing round-trip transports between the health center’s facilities for a single trip charge, said Fire Chief Randy Redmond.

• Chris Campas’ resignation from the Citizens’ Advisory Commission was accepted and Sandy Kenny was appointed to the commission in his place.

• The name of the Convention and Visitors Bureau Commission was changed to the Tourism Commission. The name change will better reflect the group as a city commission, said Marie Hansen, communications and marketing director.

LAURA ORY can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at laura.ory@svherald.com.

Print this story Email this story

Font Size

Use the form below to post a brief comment to this story, or respond to other readers. Please use the word count tool to assist you in keeping your remarks to 100 words or fewer.
Comments appear once they are approved. Your thoughtful contribution to the online discussion is appreciated.

Independent wrote on Dec 12, 2008 11:51 AM:

" Glad to hear the ward system is being reviewed; it would be preferred to the present area-wide election system. All of the present council come from one end of town and reflect pretty much the same perspective. Let's support a ward system to broaden the perspectives. "

JM wrote on Dec 12, 2008 11:09 AM:

" Good question Huh. Those sign wavers you see at tax-time every year were illegal. I think the SV police were waiting on federal grant money to form a task-force with the cochise county sheriff, FBI, DEA, and border patrol to crack down on the problem. Now that it's legal they'll have to find another major problem to deal with. "

Huh wrote on Dec 12, 2008 7:35 AM:

" Well, sign walkers have been around here awhile. Were they illegal before and if they were, why wasn't something done about them? "