If Bend is to retain the character and quality that originally made it one of the most attractive communities in Oregon, a major effort must be made to improve the appearance of business signs and public signs along its roadways.

Apart from the national chains, the type, size and location of business identification signs are seldom considered in the overall design of a site. The most attractive and typically the most effective signs are those that are designed to fit in with the building and site. These signs are memorable and effective because they carry through with the building theme and are not just another pole sign placed at the edge of the site just above or below the adjacent business sign.

The large number of businesses along the main transportation corridors, combined with the ever-increasing competition to catch a driver’s attention, has created a forest of pole signs. Currently, principal business signs are accompanied by many lesser message signs relating to credit cards, prices, specials, hours of operation and so forth.

A second category of signs are directional and information signs. These signs, most of which are public signs in the street right-of-way, guide visitors and the motoring public to parks, the mountains, the college, and numerous other sites. Sign clutter so completely dominates the landscape of the major commercial arterials that the individual effectiveness of each sign is minimized, thereby defeating the purpose of signs.

Billboards and other “off-premise” signs are a third category of signs. These signs are most often used to advertise a product, business, or high-end housing development, or used as a directory sign, but also may provide community service information. Because they are targeted at the motoring public, they are most prominent along the state highways and main arterial streets in town. Billboards frequently compete with the on-site business signs and add to the sign clutter, which is contrary to the goal of improving the appearance of the commercial corridors. The city and county should review the local billboard regulations as part of their overall review and upgrading of the city and county sign codes.

As community concerns increase about the appearance of the transportation corridors and the neighborhoods, new, more thoughtful sign regulations must be developed. Sign regulations should be adopted that would not only control new signs, but establish a reasonable amortization period for the removal of existing non-complying signs.