A city sign ordinance that dates to the 1960s is blocking installation of an East Village sign that supporters and city of Des Moines officials agree is much needed.

 

The sign, a roughly 6-foot-wide by 10-foot-high blue, but blank, piece of metal with a graceful curve at the top, is located near East Fourth and Locust streets. Install a bench, and it could pass for a bus shelter or a rest stop for weary East Village revelers and shoppers.

 

As it stands, it is in violation of city ordinances banning pole signs — it is supported by two well-concealed steel posts — and off-premise advertising, if it were to promote East Village business, which, at the moment, it cannot.

 

Historic East Village Inc. had the sign installed a couple of months ago with the intention of adding a map directing visitors to neighborhood businesses, said Colleen MacRae, president of the nonprofit group that represents businesses and residents in the area.

 

When the HEV attempted to have a vinyl map completed, officials were asked whether they had “pulled a permit for this,” MacRae said. That led to a big “whoops.” Who knew a permit was required?

 

“The city didn’t even know it was there until we told them,” she said.

 

Over the past two years, HEV representatives have met with city officials, primarily Community Development Director Phil Delafield, to find a solution.

 

“It’s a great idea and much needed,” Delafield said. “Wayfinding is a critical issue for urban areas.”

 

MacRae said wayfinding, or directory, signs are common in Europe. She pointed out that finding businesses in the East Village can be a problem, especially for visitors from out of town.

 

But there stand those ordinances.

 

The city’s sign ordinances date to a time when you you couldn’t find the Des Moines or Raccooon Rivers for all the billboards that lined them. The civic reaction, inspired by the City Beautiful movement, was a visual “yuck.”

 

“The route to the airport looked like the Burma Shave mile,” Delafield said.

 

If the thought of all those signs doesn’t make your eyes and head hurt, one of the descriptions might at least give you a pain in the head.

 

“I’ve heard it referred to as visual cacophony,” Delafield said.

 

Whatever you call it, the HEV is looking at waiting out a change in city ordinances — that could take another three years — or getting exemptions from the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment. One is needed for the off-premises advertising and one for the pole sign. Delafield said that if a couple of flower planters were added along the sign, it could be considered a monument sign, a designation that gets an all-clear under the the sign ordinance, with no exemption necessary.

 

There are other possibilities. Delafield might have considered them all, MacRae said.

 

For example, the sign could be a converted to a neighborhood sign with a big, bold “Welcome to the East Village” splayed across its blue background. Or a QR code could be added, allowing smartphone users to scan the code to find the address of, let’s say, Scenic Route Bakery.

 

There is a practical reason for adding the QR code. Each time a business is added or deleted from the map, the HEV will have to make another trip to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

 

MacRae said her organization will go for the variances, for now, and work to find a compromise in the sign ordinance. MacRae knows her way around a bureaucracy. She is an attorney, and a member of the city’s Urban Design Review Board and its comprehensive plan committee. In addition, she is an East Village restaurateur and resident.

 

So far, HEV has spent $800 notifying every resident and business about plans to seek the variance. A trip to the Zoning Board of Adjustment costs $300 for a variance.

 

An item of note: Delafield wondered whether he was playing a devilish role in this conflict.

 

Not so, MacRae said. “Phil has been very generous and has tried to think creatively.”