> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Sign permission: Compliance or consequences - URL: https://www.smdp.com/sign-permission-compliance-or-consequences/ - Published: 2004-04-12T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T04:12:36.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Inspectors trying to be better communicators* (This is the third installment of an ongoing series about City Hall’s sign ordinance). With City Hall now heavily scrutinizing signs that hang in front of area businesses, merchants who don’t have a permit for them better get one. If a business owner fails to apply for a permit, he or she should take them down, or face fines as much as $25,000 a day, said Tim McCormick, the head of City Hall’s building and planning department. “Every sign requires a permit,” he said. “The goal is to get people to understand the process, and if they are entitled to a sign, we are going to give them a chance to comply.” Applying for a permit requires a business owner to submit drawings, a site and elevation plan, as well as the dimensions of the sign, which should all conform to City Hall’s code, which is available on the city’s Web site, pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us. “If they have an illegal sign, they should take a picture of it so it’s really clear what we are talking about,” McCormick said, adding the fee for a permit application is less than $100\. Applicants must submit their information to the staff working behind the planning department counter in City Hall. Either staffers will approve the permit based on criteria already set forth by one of City Hall’s review commissions, the Architectural Review Board, or the applicant will have to physically present their case in front of the board for approval, depending on the scope and size of the sign. The code, which is based on a complex set of criteria that includes the amount of square footage in the storefront, prohibits certain types of signs like those hanging from rooftops, those on free-standing poles and sandwich boards, among others. City Hall has beefed up its enforcement of illegal signs as part of an overall effort to have Santa Monica in compliance with all of the city’s codes, including zoning issues and noise, McCormick said. Ten new code compliance officers have been hired, and one is dedicated solely to sign enforcement. Businesses who don’t have City Hall’s stamp of approval were notified via letter in November of their non-compliance. Since then, building inspectors have been checking local businesses and officially citing them if their signs have been deemed illegal. Several businesses already have been forced to take down their signs, or face stiff penalties. Those who choose not to comply will be contacted by the City Attorney’s office and ordered to attend an administrative hearing held by an independent judge, McCormick said. But business owners usually end up complying before it gets to the hearing stage, when a conference between building and safety officials and the merchant is held. About 85 percent of violators end up complying when they are notified of the potential fines. “It’s kind of their last call,” McCormick said. “We’re not out to get them to take down their signs... the city recognizes their legitimate right to have a sign, but they need to remove it if they don’t have a permit.” McCormick said the law, which was passed 18 years ago but just recently became a priority for the City Council, is intended to make all of the signs in Santa Monica more uniform and aesthetically in control. “It just becomes too much sometimes,” he said. For those who fail to comply, which so far only one business has done, they could face criminal charges, McCormick said. The same goes for repeat offenders. “For the ones that don’t want to pay, we will criminally prosecute,” he said. “For repeat offenders, the fines go higher, and it turns into a criminal matter. The courts have been very supportive of our law. “But for most of them, it’s not worth going to jail,” he added. McCormick said only one code compliance officer is officially charged with enforcing the sign code to regulate the amount of cases going through City Hall so staff can handle the workload. Asked whether City Hall will be able to handle the expected influx of permit applications, McCormick said getting approval should only take a day or two. But if a merchant has to get approval from the Architectural Review Board, it could take up to two months. “It’s already affecting more people at the counter,” McCormick said. “(The enforcement) could affect (the workload).” But with tens of thousands of signs hung throughout Santa Monica at more than 6,000 businesses, it’s going to take a long time for everyone to be found in compliance. McCormick said City Hall is currently working on an information packet to be distributed to all businesses to help them understand the law and how to comply with it. “It helps people to know what’s required of them,” he said. “We are trying to be better communicators about the code.” Better communication might help ease the animosity many merchants have toward City Hall. Merchants who have been cited feel singled out and think the policy makers in City Hall should focus on what they feel are real issues, like vagrants sleeping on the streets and disrupting their businesses. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 12, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041204.pdf?ref=smdp.com)