Thumbnail photo: Del Norte High School’s digital sign. On Monday, the Crescent City Council allowed Crescent Elk Middle School to display an electronic sign of its own. | Photo by Monique Camarena
Councilman Steve Shamblin was absent. Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting:
Digital Signs, School Edition: Councilman Jason Greenough voted with the rest of his colleagues to allow Crescent Elk Middle School to display a digital sign, but not before he noted how ridiculous he thought the topic was.
Coming after the City Council in February approved an ordinance governing the size and location they would allow such electronic displays, Greenough said the regulations were unnecessary. Allowing Crescent Elk to have a digital sign is an exception for another governing body, he said.
“We don’t have a huge problem with signs, but we passed an ordinance to regulate them for our businesses and so, well, our businesses and everyone else,” Greenough said. “The schools are an unintended victim of our regulation of everybody’s ability to have just a sign in front of their property.”
According to City Attorney Martha Rice, the 6-8 school submitted a request for a zoning ordinance amendment to allow schools to display LED signs. The school plans to use grant dollars to install the sign, she said.
The Planning Commission on July 9 recommended the Council approve the school’s request to install the sign, Rice said. It can either be one 32 square foot sign on a building wall or it can be a double-sided monument sign. The Planning Commission also included an exemption for score boards that display the time and score of an event, she said.
Though she acknowledged her earlier opposition to digital signs in commercial zones, Mayor Pro Tem Candace Tinkler said a digital sign at Crescent Elk would benefit the community.
“One of the complaints I hear many, many times, particularly from people new to this area, is they don’t know, they don’t know what’s happening,” she said. “Maybe they would have liked to go to that high school dance concert, but they didn’t know or maybe there was a really nice concert that they didn’t know (about).”
Currently, digital signs are allowed on the city’s highway corridor and along Northcrest Drive and parts of Washington Boulevard. Their size is restricted to 32 feet and they must also be at least 1,750 linear feet away from another digital sign.
Short-term rentals: Staff’s research into the number of Airbnbs, VRBOs and other short-term rentals hasn’t uncovered more than the original 53 that were stated to be within city limits at the Council’s July 6 meeting.
“Looking at VRBO or Airbnb, there could still be some out there,” City Manager Eric Wier told councilors, calling the city boundary awkward in some places and noting that the 95531 zip code encompasses a larger area. “But the ones we have identified as possible ones that weren’t on our list have turned out to be not in the city limits or duplicates of one that was already on our list.”
Wier informed them that compelling Airbnb and VRBO to share their information with the city requires an ordinance. Such an ordinance will come before the City Council at its Aug. 17 meeting, he said.
Meanwhile, the information staff provided as to the amount of transiency occupancy taxes that were remitted to the city by short-term rental owners was inaccurate, the city manager said. The true figure is a little more than $200,000, which is less than the $342,894 SHN contract planner Ethan Lawton included in his July 6 staff report.
Wier said TOT figures from a motel was included with the STR numbers.
Councilors on July 6 had debated whether or not the city’s regulations governing STRs should be stricter. Mayor Pro Tem Candace Tinkler argued that too many change the character of local neighborhoods. Greenough and Councilman Ray Altman said vacation rental regulations are already on the books.
Mayor Isaiah Wright postponed the discussion to a future meeting so Shamblin, who was absent July 6, could participate.
County Sewer Maintenance Agreement: Councilors approved a renewed agreement for Crescent City to operate, maintain and repair the 37 miles of sewage collection pipe and 15 lift stations located outside city limits.
The agreement covers County Service Area No. 1, which includes the Bertsch-Oceanview area and the portion of Northcrest Drive that’s outside of city limits. The matter appeared on the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors’ consent agenda on July 28.
Under the agreement, the county will compensate the city for its services, which includes staff time, equipment rentals and materials costs.
According to the county’s July 28 staff report, the 2026-27 outside services budget for County Service Area No. 1 is $200,000 and includes work done by the city.
Public Works positions: Councilors moved forward with a plan to separate a senior building and parks maintenance worker position into two positions, a senior parks maintenance worker and a senior building maintenance worker.
According to Wier, this action comes after staff and council members discussed an optimization of the Public Works Department during the 2026-27 budget process.
With a vacancy in the position, the city plans to promote one of its existing staff members into the senior parks maintenance position while recruiting for a senior building maintenance worker.
In addition to approving the creation of the two positions, councilors authorized staff to hire a temporary maintenance worker for the fiscal year to help cover staff vacancies. According to Wier, most of those vacancies are due to employees taking family leave.
Hiring a temporary maintenance worker will require a budget amendment of $25,798 with $12,125 coming from the water fund, $12,125 coming from the sewer fund and $1,548 coming from the general fund, Wier said.
