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Snoqualmie committee refers sign code rewrite to Planning Commission after legal review
Summary
The Community Development Committee voted to refer a decade-old sign code update to the Planning Commission after staff and the city attorney flagged potential conflicts with state law and recent case law; staff will enforce limited, safety-focused rules while revisions are drafted.
SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — The Snoqualmie Community Development Committee voted June 8 to refer a proposed update to the city’s sign code to the Planning Commission for formal review and public hearing after staff and the city attorney raised legal questions about current enforcement.
Mayor (speaking as "Mr. Mayor") told the committee the city’s sign regulations have not been updated in about a decade and that changes in case law and state guidance require content‑neutral rules that focus on location rather than message. “With the appearance of signs that could be seen as being of a political nature … I instructed the staff not to stop enforcing our sign code and then asked the legal department to look into is our sign code compliant with case law and state law or do we need to make adjustments,” the Mayor said.
Why it matters: The committee’s referral starts a formal planning commission process that will include a public hearing and a written recommendation back to the council. Until that process concludes, the Mayor said staff will selectively enforce existing rules in safety‑sensitive areas (for example parking strips, planting strips and unpaved shoulders) and pause enforcement elsewhere while revisions are drafted.
What the committee heard: Council Member Murphy asked for the written legal analysis and a history of how prior non‑enforcement zones were created; Mayor staff committed to delivering that analysis to the council and to the Planning Commission. The Mayor also said signs that staff have collected are being held at City Hall for short‑term pickup and are generally retained for about a week before disposal.
The committee’s action: Council Member Johnson moved to refer the proposal to the Planning Commission; the motion was seconded and the referral was approved. Chair Lewis Washington noted the Planning Commission will hold the required public hearings and provide a recommendation back to the council, at which point the council will decide any final changes.
What’s next: Planning staff and the city attorney will prepare the record, circulate the legal analysis and notify the public about the hearing schedule. The Planning Commission’s recommendation will return to this committee and then to the full City Council for any final code changes.
