Kingman, Arizona: The Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce has been working along side of the City of Kingman to refine the local sign ordinances. As with many laws and ordinances, the City of Kingman sign ordinances have been on the books for years, however, there has been widespread misinterpretation and misinformation regarding these rules. It was at a recent community event, however, that these rules came to the forefront as an issue needing attention.

The City of Kingman zoning ordinances contain several sections pertaining to how businesses, organizations and individuals are permitted to display permanent and temporary signs. These portions of the zoning ordinances are referred to as the sign ordinances. The current working ordinances place very restrictive controls on sign usage and display. In the past, these ordinances have gone largely unnoticed, but somewhat recent abuses provoked the interest of some community members and sparked an increase in enforcement. The result was a great deal of confusion and frustration over ambiguities and overly restrictive requirements with the ordinances. In addition, already strapped law enforcement personnel were being pulled in additional directions regulating sign enforcement. The Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce Business and Government Relations Committee, acting pro actively on the behalf of its membership, along with the City of Kingman Planning and Zoning Department and City of Kingman Police Department have been working in concert to rework these ordinances to better serve the public interest.

At a recent meeting of the Chamber Business and Government Relations meeting, City staff and Chamber committee members completed a draft proposal of amendments to the zoning ordinances that will disambiguate several aspects of the code as well as increase the flexibility and utility of these ordinances. Some of the proposed changes include increasing the amount of time allowed for "special event" signage as well as relaxing time restrictions for special events. The Chamber would like to thank everyone involved in this process for their assistance, especially Police Chief DeVries and Planning and Zoning staff.

The current draft proposal will be reviewed by the City of Kingman Planning and Zoning Commission this coming March 10, 2009 at 6:00 PM. If you would like to learn more or voice your support of our proposed changes, please attend this meeting.

The Chamber of Commerce Business and Government Relations Committee is a standing committee of the Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce and is composed of general members, members of the Board of Directors, Chamber staff, and City liaisons. Anyone interested in joining the committee or attending its meetings may contact Chamber CEO Beverly Liles for more information.