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Inclusivity board presses city staff for timeline on multilingual construction and notice signage
Summary
Board members urged City Hall to set a timeline for multilingual public notices and construction signage after staff told the board work on a formal language-access plan and an approach for applicant-provided development signs remains in progress.
Members of the Westminster Inclusivity Board told staff on Feb. 12 they want a clear, expedited timeline for multilingual public-notice and construction signage after staff said language-access policy work is ongoing.
The issue matters because development and construction signs can contain legally significant information and safety warnings; the board said residents who do not read the notice language may be excluded from public participation or safety information.
Kate (Staff member) reported that communications staff currently produce some public materials in English and Spanish and that the city is expanding Spanish signage in public facilities. She said the broader Language Access Plan has not been finalized: “There is an internal team with representatives from all departments that has been working on this. Once finalized, that information will be shared with the Inclusivity Board,” she said.
John McConnell (Planning staff) responded in writing to the board’s request about development and public-notice signs. McConnell told the board that public-notice signs on properties undergoing development or zoning review are the responsibility of the applicant and that staff are “working with city management to devise a reasonable solution to incorporating Spanish language into the public notice signs.” He added staff want a transition that is “manageable by the applicant.”
Board members expressed concern that there is ambiguity and no public timeline. Michelle (Board member) said the board should see a timeline and urged staff to “expedite” the work because ongoing development is producing many notices. She said multilingual signage is a public-safety and civic-participation issue: “If many of our residents cannot read signs that are designed for safety and legal issues, then that needs to be… addressed immediately.”
Other members suggested practical interim approaches, including using QR codes on signs that link to translations and targeted language selection based on the demographics around each site. One board member noted Spanish is commonly spoken but recommended developers consider local language demographics and include the most-represented languages for a given neighborhood rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Staff described related work underway: the city is migrating to a new web platform to meet ADA accessibility requirements and has launched Access Westminster as the portal for service requests. Staff also said Planning’s development-review committee and the city manager’s office are reviewing possible approaches.
The board voted to keep this as a standing item and requested staff return with more specific timelines and more detail on how applicant-provided signs and city-produced notices will accommodate language access. Board members also offered to provide feedback and assistance to staff during the drafting process.
