Drafter

Clerk 01/08/2018

Title

AN ORDINANCE relating to the establishment of a gateway sign for the unincorporated community of Preston; amending Ordinance 10870, Section 421, and K.C.C. 21A.20.030 and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 21A.06.

Body

PREAMBLE:

King County serves as the local government for unincorporated communities throughout the county, including the unincorporated community of Preston.  Each of those communities have distinct identities derived from their history, culture and location.  Such communities sometimes desire to express their civic pride and community identification through gateway signs welcoming persons to their communities.  The purpose of this ordinance is to allow King County, acting as the general government for Preston and exercising its government-speech authority, to erect a gateway sign reflective of the Preston community.

                     BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  There is hereby added to K.C.C. chapter 21A.06 a new section to read as follows:

                     Gateway sign:  A sign or fixed display where the content is adopted by ordinance as government speech with King County acting in its capacity as the general government for unincorporated King County.

                     SECTION 2.  Ordinance 10870, Section 421, and K.C.C. 21A.20.030 are hereby amended to read as follows:

                     The following signs or displays are exempted from the regulations under this chapter:

                     A.  Historic site markers or plaques, gravestones, and address numbers;

                     B.  Signs required by law, including but not limited to:

                       1.  Official or legal notices issued and posted by any public agency or court; or

                       2.  Traffic directional or warning signs((.));

                     C.  Plaques, tablets or inscriptions indicating the name of a building, date of erection, or other commemorative information, which are an integral part of the building structure or are attached flat to the face of the building, which are nonilluminated, and which do not exceed four square feet in surface area;

                     D.  Incidental signs, which shall not exceed two square feet in surface area, ((provided that said)) though the size limitation shall not apply to signs providing directions, warnings or information when established and maintained by a public agency;

                     E.  State or ((F))federal flags;

                     F.  Religious symbols; ((and))

                     G.  The flag of a commercial institution, provided no more than one flag is permitted per business premises, and further provided the flag does not exceed ((20)) twenty square feet in surface area; and

                     H.  Gateway signs, as adopted by ordinance.

                     SECTION 3.  The department of transportation, roads services division, shall design, erect and maintain a properly engineered gateway sign outside the clear zone, but within the King County right of way, at the existing gabion wall that is located approximately five hundred seventy-five feet north of SE 85th Place along the Preston-Fall City Road.  The final design and location of the gateway sign shall be approved by the roads division director of the department of transportation, substantially in this form:  single-sided and displaying up to five American flags, properly displayed under the

United States Flag Code, 4 U.S.C. Sec. 1 et seq., with a banner containing the words, "Peace," "Justice" and "Liberty."