Council extends decision date for cigar sign issue

OREGON – A decision about the 7-foot cigar painted on a new downtown mural has been delayed until September.

After nearly 35 minutes of discussion, city commissioners voted 5-0 to delay their decision for Bad Ash Cigars, 110 N. Fourth Street., who had asked for a sign variance.

The Oregon Plan Commission voted 5-2 on Aug. 15 to recommend the council approve the variance. At that meeting, City Manager Darin DeHaan said the variance was needed because when the 4½' by 7′ cigar was painted on the mural it transformed the entire mural into a sign, which exceeded the city’s maximum sign size.

DeHaan said commercial signs are not to exceed 50 square feet. “The entire front of the building is now a sign,” DeHaan said. “The issue is the sign’s size, not the content.”

He said the owner’s original rendering for the mural did not include the cigar.

The large mural was painted on the front of what once was the Oregon Theater. It features a blossoming tobacco plant with the cigar next to the business’ entrance.

Brian Wynn, a co-owner of the business, said the decision was made to paint over the brick wall after workers discovered that the theater’s marquee was too damaged to be placed back on the brick. He said that since the mural’s creation, many people have stopped by to view it.

DeHaan said the city was not against murals or the business’ name.

“We have a mural grant program providing $5,000 each for the downtown murals and we have three in the pipeline,” he said as he read from a PowerPoint presentation. “Is the city against Bad Ash? No, we have worked with the owners to save the former theater and even provided $190,000 in cash and business incentives.”

Wynn said there was a misunderstanding when the cigar was added to the mural.

“Everyone else in town perceives this as a mural,” Wynn said Tuesday. “Only the people sitting in this room see it as a sign.”

But Commissioner Melanie Cozzi said she reviewed text messages between the city and Wynn’s co-owners and did not see any misunderstanding.

“You were told it [the cigar] should not be on there,” she told Wynn. “I didn’t see any misinformation.”

She also said it was her understanding that warning information about the health dangers of smoking are also required by the FDA.

Commissioner Tim Krug questioned Wynn’s explanation on why a sign could not be placed on the building. “If that wall isn’t able to hold 100 pounds someone didn’t do their job,” Krug said, before making a motion to table the variation request to gather more information. “Legally we have to do this because otherwise the next person can come in and say ‘why is he getting away with it?’. I like the mural, but the cigar in the mural is a problem.”

Wynn said changing the mural now would result in an extra cost to the business.

Krug’s motion failed for a lack of second, but Mayor Ken Williams suggested the council delay a decision to give the business time to rectify the issue.

“Is it your entire intent to go back and fix this?,” asked Commissioner Terry Schuster. “If it is then there is no need for a variance.”

Wynn said he and his co-owners would need some time to make alterations. “We will have to come up with a new design,” Wynn said.

The council approved delaying any decision until the Sept. 21 meeting.