HOUGHTON — Any revisions to Houghton’s temporary sign policies will come after the election. 

Houghton Planning Commission members discussed possible changes to the temporary sign section of the city’s zoning ordinance at Tuesday’s meeting. 

Commissioner Craig Waddell, who replaced Joan Suits as council representative on the commission, had suggested changes to the ordinance informed by his experience with placing campaign signs. 

“One issue is when I was told my signs have been pulled, or I need to go pull my signs, and I go around the neighborhood and I see all kinds of signs in comparable positions where my signs were that are still there, and I’ve got pictures of them,” he said. “Something’s not right here.” 

One clause in the ordinance bans temporary signs, except for sandwich signs, in the public right-of-way. The city ordinance assumes a 60-foot right-of-way, which could require people putting up signs to measure from the center of the roadway. That could be difficult in November, Waddell said. He endorsed changing it to match Michigan Department of Transportation guidelines requiring signs to be three feet back of the curb. Another suggestion involved changing the deadline for sign removal from five to 10 days after the election.

Waddell had suggested changing the ordinance to make a distinction between political signs and other temporary signs such as real estate open houses. Commissioner Kristine Bradof said the city had needed to change its sign ordinance years ago to ensure that the standards are content-neutral. 

The planning commission opted to spend more time deliberating on potential changes. Even if the commission acted Tuesday night, because of the state procedures for amending city ordinance they would not take effect until three days before the election, City Manager Eric Waara said. He would also like to look at the sign ordinance as a whole to consider other changes.

The issue was referred to the city’s ordinance committee.

“If there’s an improvement to be made here, we’ll try to make it, but we have to do this, I think, the way we do everything else,” said Chair Tom Merz. “I’m not opposed to this. If I thought this was a waste of time, I would say so, and not put it back on the (committee) to make it look like we were doing something.”

Bradof recommended the city remind residents of the current rules around signs before the election. 

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, City Manager Eric Waara also updated the commission on progress on several city projects. He said there may be a hybrid solution available for structural issues at the city garage next to Subway. Waara now has engineers looking at a “more surgical” removal of the problem parts that will allow the city to retain the rest.

U.P. Engineers & Architects submitted a structural evaluation of the deck to the city in July with three options. Keeping the deck came with about $2 million in repairs. Two other options involved demolishing the garage, but with varying degrees of expansion. 

Waara and Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Jepsen also met with the developer of a planned residential space on Pearl Street. With no action yet on tearing down the original housing, Waara said the city had sent a notice that the existing houses on the street were violating the dangerous buildings ordinance. The developers will be proposing a scaled-down version of the previous site plan involving 24 four-bedroom townhouses. 

“They’re similar to the previous plan, rearranged,” Waara said. “Looking at it, it’s certainly going to be more economical to construct for what they have drawn out there.”

At the Hodge building, the U.P. State Bank is working on finding a development partner after entering into a purchase agreement earlier this year. The site at Franklin Square is currently used by the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce. The developer would handle design of the project, which would then go to the planning commission for site plan review.

In another upcoming housing development, the developers of a planned apartment complex on Sharon Avenue. Woda Cooper Companies plans to build 42 general occupancy units. 

They will apply for the next round of state funding in April. A site plan review is a prerequisite for their financing package; the planning commission will take that up this winter, Waara said. Woda Cooper has a schematic design, but plans to do additional design work and due diligence work on the property, Waara said.