Signs and banners that were allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic as a temporary measure must be removed or moved in coming weeks, the city of Durango announced.

The city says it has received complaints from residents that business signage is cluttering the town.

Banners, yard signs, real estate signs and small portable signs are all allowed, but exceptions made to the city’s sign code during the height of the pandemic are no longer necessary, said Scott Shine, assistant director of Durango Community Development.

“Durango’s a beautiful and special place,” he said. “Signs have a role to play in the community and we try to find a balance between allowing enough signage, but also not getting into a position where there’s lots of clutter or signs are not properly maintained.”

The city allowed residents and businesses to post about twice as many signs and banners as usual to give them more visibility during the COVID-19 shutdowns and capacity limits. But now, signage rules have been reverted to those laid out in the city’s land-use code, Shine said.

Under the land-use code, the number and size of signs depends on what zoning district businesses are in.

“If you’re in a commercial zone like South Camino or north Main or something, you obviously get more signage than in a residential zone,” he said. “We still obviously allow real estate signs, things like that. But it’s on a smaller scale.”

Banners, for example, can only be flown for a certain amount of time throughout the calendar year.

“You get 14 consecutive days and then a maximum of six times per calendar year. So six two-week periods in a calendar year (for banners),” he said.

Shine said the city encourages anyone with questions about what is allowed to contact the city. A news release issued on Thursday directed inquiries to Durango compliance officer Chris Simpson at Chris.Simpson@durangogov.org.

The city will be reaching out to businesses over the next few weeks to notify owners of the dropped temporary exceptions to code.

“We have been getting some citizen complaints just saying the signage has kind of proliferated,” Shine said. “A lot of times people put these temporary signs out on the sidewalk or in the city right of way and they really need to be located on private property.”

Meeting code compliance may be as simple as moving one’s signage or filling out a free online permit form, he said.

The allowance for temporary signage was approved under an emergency declaration by the city manager in 2020.

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