CLEARFIELD -- The benches can stay, but the ads have to go.
After six months of discussion, the city council affirmed its stance against allowing courtesy benches with advertising on them. Though courtesy benches will still be allowed by permit, a city ordinance specifically bans advertising on them.
Community Development Director Adam Lenhard said approximately 50 benches throughout the city are not owned by the city, and most are not in compliance with the ordinance.
Lenhard said that has been the case for about two years now. He said the benches are not legal because the required permits are expired and have not been renewed. Part of the issue is that the benches contain advertisements, and Clearfield does not allow off-premise signs.
Councilwoman Kathryn Murray is concerned that many of the advertisements are for businesses outside of Clearfield, which she said gives preference to businesses outside the city.
"It's not a question of if we should have the benches. It seems the consensus is that the benches are needed," she said. "But they need to be uniform and modernized. Thirty-year-old benches do not comply."
Residential support for removing the benches has been mixed. Some have said the benches are tacky and unnecessary, while others have said they are a benefit to residents because they make the community more walkable by giving people a place to rest.
Planning Commission Chairwoman Nike Peterson said commissioners have been working on this issue for six months, and after a recent public hearing, opted to ban the benches with advertising.
She explained the benches have been neglected and poorly maintained and that requests to rectify the problems have been ignored.
"We should enforce the ordinance to make them illegal," she said. "We need to remove the eyesore."
Peterson said removing the benches would allow the city to instead put in benches that follow a unified design standard. Officials have received a bid estimating the cost for 70 benches and 20 receptacles at $23,597.
Resident Mary Stark said the city should leave the benches as they are because they are a service to the residents.
"We don't need to spend the money," she said.
Mayor Don Wood explained that if the city opted to supply benches, they would be funded using money from new development.
Kevin Porter, who owns the majority of the benches, asked officials to consider a compromise. He said he would work with staff to find a uniform design that is acceptable and work hard to keep them in better repair.
"I know this could have been avoided if I had been more aggressive with maintenance of the benches," he said.
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