Business owners along busy streets know they need to put big letters in bold colors in front of commuters - because at 35 mph, the words on a stack of signs can blur.

But that's not always what city residents want to see around their neighborhoods.

Garden City leaders are hoping to strike a balance between the two in a proposed ordinance that could change the look of Garden City.

"The goal is to create some parameters so we don't get total clutter, but so we're competitive with other communities," said Mayor John Evans. "We want to clean this up over time, not exacerbate it."

The changes would occur slowly over the next 20 years, as new businesses bring new signs that comply with the proposed standards, Evans said.

This is the city's second run at the idea. An earlier attempt was panned by members of the business community who were excluded from the talks.

This time, even if they all don't agree with the idea, many are part of the discussion.

"Signage is a real tough nut to crack. You certainly want businesses to thrive and you want them to advertise as freely as they can," said Walt Lindgren, an architect on the committee that has been exploring the issue. "Sometimes what's best for the community isn't what's best for the business owner."

The 50-year-old Stagecoach Inn's 30-year-old message board is well-known for its displays of daily specials and personal announcements, said owner Rick Frasier.

"It's big-time important to my business," he said. "A lot of people drive down Chinden and say, 'Rick, you need a new phrase up there.' "

Frasier is considering an electronic message board, which he could have under the current draft ordinance - if he follows a slate of guidelines on how the sign would work.

"If you keep it looking good, you should be able to keep your sign out there," he said. "The sign on an old car lot next to me, yeah, it's an eyesore. It should come down."

Garden City needs improvement, but this is a tough economy for businesses - and they need good advertising, said Robert Short, general manager of the Young Electric Sign Company, which was represented on the sign committee by Christen Carlson.

"Signage is the cheapest form of advertising," Short said. "What they're doing is restricting the best and cheapest advertising that a business can do."

One of the ways the draft ordinance tried to meet the needs of the community was through the creation of sign districts, each with its own permissions and limitations, said City Council member Elfreda Higgins.

The districts were based on "the desired nature of the future land use" as shown in the city's long-term plan. Garden City's major corridors are treated very differently than the rest of the city.

"We really would like for the corridors into our city to look as nice as we can," Higgins said. "We've made a lot of progress, but there's a lot more to do."

But the districts are controversial, because some businesses already exist in proposed residential sign districts.

Short's sign company, on 41st Street, would be in the residential "sign district 1."

"We are by all means a commercial piece of property," Short said. "We're a business that employs 60 people, and we're in one of the oldest districts in town."

The committee was split, too, on a rule that would require all noncompliant signs to be replaced by July 1, 2029, Thornborrow said.

If a business has fully depreciated the value of its sign for tax purposes, the ordinance would require them to update or replace the sign within a year.

Signs are exempted if they are on historic registers or were approved through the design review process.

"There would be a lot of (noncompliant) signs along Chinden because of height," Thornborrow said.

This clause is what gives the ordinance some teeth, Lindgren said. There's no point in writing an ordinance like this that doesn't have an enforcement component, he said.

In 20 years, Lindgren wants to look back and see that Garden City has changed.

"If it doesn't, we didn't do our jobs," he said.

Bethann Stewart: 377-6393