Take action to preserve signage

Thursday at the Tucumcari City Commission meeting, the Historic Route 66 sign ordinance will be the subject of a public hearing and a vote by the commissioners. This ordinance is in response to the alarming disappearance of historic Route 66 signage in Tucumcari.

A collector market has emerged that is threatening the existence of these signs where signs are being cut down and trucked away to auction houses and private collections. Each time a sign is removed, the cultural and historic heritage of the community is diminished. In addition, tourism is impacted, as these icons are no longer part of the community's identity.

These signs are important as evidenced by the fact 27 of New Mexico's Route 66 signs are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While listing on the register is an honor and a qualification for tax benefits, the listing provides no protection. The only option is for communities to enact their own protective measures.

Communities across the nation have enacted property landmarking ordinances to protect historic properties, but applying property landmarking can be complicated, so a simpler and less constraining alternative has been proposed by the New Mexico Route 66 Association. This alternative sign landmarking ordinance applies landmarking to a sign rather than the entire property.

The key provisions of the ordinance are as follows:

• Landmark designation is an honor that is proposed as a voluntary elective by the sign owner.

• The ordinance requires a sign owner submit an application to the city in the event the sign owner wishes to demolish or remove a landmarked sign.

• The application triggers a review period wherein the city advises interested parties such as the Tucumcari Historical Society, New Mexico Route 66 Museum, Tucumcari MainStreet and New Mexico Route 66 Association that a sign is endangered and provides a limited review period to identify alternatives to demolition or removal.

• If an alternative is not identified at the conclusion of the review period, the sign owner is empowered to demolish or otherwise remove the sign, which includes the option of the sign owner to sell the sign to a potential buyer outside the community.

• As is the practice in enacting ordinances, there is a penalty clause should the owner of the sign, who has voluntarily accepted a sign for landmarking, violates the ordinance by not notifying the city of the intent to demolish or remove the sign.

As can be seen, the ordinance does not prevent the sign owner from disposing a historic sign; it simply provides an opportunity for the community to put forth an option that is acceptable to the sign owner to keep the sign in Tucumcari.

Had such an ordinance been in place at an earlier date, both the Cactus Lodge/RV park sign and the Paradise Motel sign that were sold to collectors may have been preserved as part of the Route 66 heritage of Tucumcari. Without such an ordinance, signs in Tucumcari such as the Trails West sign and the Ranch Cafe sign may be the next signs to leave the community.

The New Mexico Route 66 Association urges the citizens of Tucumcari to take action to preserve the community's Route 66 heritage by contacting you commissioners to support the ordinance and by attending the Feb. 13 commissioners meeting to sign up to speak at the meeting in support of the ordinance.

Johnnie Meier is a preservation officer for the New Mexico Route 66 Association. He can be emailed at [email protected]