Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Main Street businesses will be required to remove signs suspended from marquees and pay $100 annually for awnings and park benches that encroach on the state’s right-of-way, according to the state Department of Transportation.

DOT recently mailed 22 letters to property owners downtown, informing them signs would have to come down and applications for permits to maintain marquees need to be mailed within 30 days. The $100 application fee is waived for buildings in place before 1959.

Removal of signs and benches is required for the state to meet federal road requirements and receive federal funding for DOT work next spring on portions of Main Street, Front Street, Second Avenue, Old Haines Highway and Beach Road, said Diane Powell, DOT property manager for Southeast.

“The Federal Highway Administration doesn’t allow any commercial signs permitted in the right-of-way,” Powell said, because they’re a distraction to motorists. All signs not flush to the face of buildings along right-of-ways will have to go, she said.

Fences, decks and picnic tables may have to be moved, Powell said. For example, a picnic table at Third and Main will have to be moved three feet north, she said. A free, beautification permit is available for landscaping encroachments – such as small trees, shrubs and flowers.

Business leaders and building owners this week criticized the requirement. “DOT’s a menace,” said Chamber of Commerce president Ned Rozbicki. “But I don’t know what we can say. If they chose to enforce it, they could make businesses move all their signs off the highway. It’s stupid.”

Planning commissioner Andy Hedden said state regulations also have been an obstacle to borough efforts to improve signage around town, and suggested the borough take ownership of Main Street.

“You give up a lot of control of your area to save the maintenance cost of it. With Main Street petering out, such as it is, (taking ownership) would be a good way for the borough to show investment in its downtown corridor,” Hedden said. Existing signs are part of the character of Main Street, he said.

Rozbicki said he’s not convinced the borough should take over Main Street but said Haines perhaps should work with other towns to lobby the state for friendlier road design standards that states elsewhere have adopted for downtowns.

“Living on a state road, I can tell you that state service is a lot better than city service,” Rozbicki said. Creating pedestrian-friendly downtowns has been proven to be good for businesses there, he said. “Making automobile standards appeal to people doesn’t work.”

Jeff Haisler said if he’s forced, he’ll pull the park bench his family put in front of their hardware store about 20 years ago. Elderly residents use the bench to watch parades. He described the regulation as beyond reason.

“If it’s in the way, the $100 you pay doesn’t make it get out of the way. So where does the $100 go? It doesn’t make any sense,” Haisler said.

Clearing and permitting of encroachments on state roads has been enforced recently in Petersburg, Yakutat, Ketchikan and Sitka, DOT’s Powell said.

Powell said she understands building awnings have been in place for years and her department isn’t trying to make anyone angry. Her job is to keep roads clear of encroachments, but there’s only funding enough for her to do that in advance of construction work, she said.  

“What happens after the projects are done and they sneak their benches back out there, I can’t control that. I’m not saying that should be done, but I’m sure if you go back a couple years later, there’s more encroachments. That’s just human nature,” Powell said.