The City of Salem’s sign department, tasked with ensuring public safety and maintaining the “neat, clean, orderly, and attractive appearance of the community” , finds itself at the center of a growing storm of frustration from local business owners. Its role involves reviewing and approving signage, educating the public on complex sign codes, and investigating violations. But for many entrepreneurs, a recent ramp-up in enforcement feels less like civic improvement and more like a bureaucratic siege.
For years, Salem went without a dedicated sign code enforcer. About two years ago, one was hired to cover the entire city, responding to complaints and conducting inspections on a “geographical rotation”. The city says its process “always begins with outreach and education” and that most businesses voluntarily comply. The official line is that they’re now addressing signs that have “always been non-compliant”.
But on the ground, if you talk to small business ow s excessive violations and confusing interpretations of rules that can lead to thousands of dollars in permits or penalties. The Salem Sign Ordinance Worksheet, a guide for common business signs, details a dizzying array of regulations for freestanding, wall, blade, awning, and window signs, with specific allowances based on zoning, lot frontage, and even the distance of a building from the street. Permits are generally required, and any modification to an approved sign often means a new permit. It’s a complex landscape, and the shift from lax to active enforcement has been jarring.
Shari Shaw, co-owner of Torque Automotive Industries, a hybrid-specialist auto shop on Capitol St NE, has become a reluctant face of this frustration. She and her husband, Hai Nguyen, poured their savings and effort into renovating a long-vacant, dilapidated building, transforming it into a community asset. “We have had countless neighborhood folks come to our shop and thank us for cleaning up the building, lot and ultimately the neighborhood,” Shaw says.
Her dealings with the sign department began, in her view, with diligent inquiry. Before opening in June 2024, Shaw says she consulted city planners. She understood that changing inserts in their existing pole sign or re-vinylling their awning (which had a 2006 permit) wouldn’t require new permits, citing specific communications with city staff and her reading of code sections regarding replaceable copy and normal maintenance.
For nearly four months, all seemed well. Then, in late September, shortly after placing a “goofy skeleton” from Costco outside for Halloween, an email from city sign specialist Stephanie Myers landed, alleging “many signs that have been installed without permits and in violation of city code.” This, Shaw believes, triggered an ordeal. “It’s painfully clear we are being retaliated against at this point because we wouldn’t ‘just comply’ like they told us most people do,” she states.
Shaw details a nine-month battle where the city targeted the skeleton, an inside-window sticker, flags, and the awning. She alleges shifting demands and interpretations. “When one tactic didn’t work they would attempt to come up with a different one,” Shaw claims, “they changed the criteria of what they wanted me to do… and ultimately interpreted the city’s sign code as to what best matched their own personal agenda instead of following the actual sign code.” The pressure, she says, included threats of doubled fees and new requirements for building permits, typically reserved for new construction.
The human cost has been significant. “This whole ordeal has had an overall negative effect on my health, I have significant anxiety when it comes to doing business with any part of the city now,” Shaw confides.
Her story resonates with others. Brandy Burgess of All City Sweets in downtown Salem was hit with an $1,800 penalty for an awning sign that had been in place for six years, a large part of that due to historic district fees. “It’s damaging,” Burgess told KGW News, “this kind of thing could put a business that close to the edge”. Shaw says several other small businesses, some minority-owned, have contacted her with similar complaints, questioning if enforcement is applied equitably across all businesses, large and small.
While the city aims to apply its codes consistently, the experiences of these business owners suggest a chasm between intent and impact. The complexity of the sign rules, coupled with a sudden enforcement surge, has bred mistrust and anxiety. For entrepreneurs like Shari Shaw, who simply wanted to build a legacy and serve her community, the dream now carries the bitter taste of a fight she never sought. The question for Salem is how to mend these fences and ensure its regulations foster, rather than fight, the spirit of local enterprise.
