City ordinance bans sidewalk animals

The Rocky Mountain bear, the Bug A Boo giraffe and The Black Sheep lion, all fixtures on the Ashland Plaza for years, will have to come inside after the city decided to crack down on violators of a 1982 sign code.

The city recently issued warnings to about 30 businesses for violations, giving them three days to comply or face a fine of $250 a day.

The code bans outside merchandise and three-dimensional caricatures of persons or animals, said city code enforcement officer Dean Walker. He said the code was designed to prevent clutter and schlock.

The Black Sheep owner Susan Chester said she will fight City Hall.

"I'm not moving my lion," she said.

Walker said the lion is in the right-of-way of pedestrians and will have to be removed. It can be replaced by planters, which are encouraged by the city, he said.

The statue of a bespectacled waiter that has stood in front of Wiley's World of Pasta south of town for years also must go, said Walker.

Restaurant owner Terry Wiley said if the city bans figures in front of businesses, he will put Alfredo on the roof.

"I'm going to start a petition drive and find out what we can do about it," Wiley said. "I'm going to push it as far as I can and chain myself to it for at least an hour as an act of civil disobedience."

After Conny Shadle, owner of Bug A Boo on the plaza, was told to get rid of the four-foot, stuffed giraffe that stood outside her children's clothing and toy store for nine years, she nudged it inside but left the head quizzically looking outside.

"I feel it (enforcement) is rather ridiculous after nine years," Shadle said. "It isn't for sale, it's not in the way and it's brought enjoyment for thousands of kids who've hugged and kissed it over the years."

Shadle said there's talk among merchants to appeal to the City Council to change the sign ordinance.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory owner Renee Hallesy said she would join such a movement after having to pull Truffles, a giant stuffed bear that sat outside her store for years, inside.

"The bear gets a lot of attention and hugs," Hallesy said. "It's the most photographed thing in the downtown. It's just lovable. Cameras go off constantly."

Zoe's Café and Ice Cream shop at First and Main streets got warned about an awning with its logo on it located on the side of the building. The code allows signs only over viable entries, Walker said. The owners are responding by making the side door a customer entrance.

Many businesses got dinged for placing clothing racks, boxes of shoes and other merchandise on the sidewalk, Walker said.

Hallesy and others said they appreciated the intent of the ordinance and the current enforcement, but that the law could be revised to allow for innocuous displays that delight tourists and encourage business without being schlocky.

Walker said that even though the citations to merchants "are a shock and a surprise, the city can't enforce only when a display is ugly. It's an inclusive ordinance."

Walker said he understands the need for businesses to be noticed. But when less rigid and prohibitive sign codes are used, banners, balloons, A-frame signs and temporary signs — all banned in Ashland — tend to dominate.

The numerous violations of the sign code came to light in November when sculptor Kevin Christman went to the Ashland Public Arts Commission about his proposal to install an angel sculpture downtown in front of Soundpeace. The sculpture was banned because some commissioners thought it promoted merchandise sold inside the store.

Walker noted that revision of the sign code would take substantial work and organization, but he suggested merchants contact the City Council.

"The more organized business wants to be, the more strongly it would come across to the city," Walker said.