Rural Whidbey Island businesses located off the beaten path are often only happened upon unless a customer knows exactly where he or she is going. With new county-installed directional signs available to proprietors, business owners will have an opportunity to attract more customers.

The Island County Commissioners aired a new policy at a regular meeting Monday defining procedures related to signs positioned off the highway.

Some businesses are already included on Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) signs posted just before reaching a town or city’s exit. Other businesses are more isolated and a mere left or right turn alone will not guide prospective customers to their locations.

“We were first approached by the Lavender Wind Farm after they were conditionally approved by the WSDOT. The WSDOT requires that a business also obtain permission from the county for follow-through signs” said Bill Oakes, Island County Public Works director. “What this policy does is provide a means for local businesses to have directional signs on the state highway and county roads that lead to their destination.”

The Lavender Wind Farm, located on Darst Road off of West Beach Road, was a perfect candidate for the additional signs.

“We’ve been approved by the state and had been waiting to find out if it was ready at the county level,” said Sarah Richards, business owner, on Tuesday morning. “I’m really happy. I’ve been waiting for about a year.”

Richards’ business, which is closed for the winter and will reopen March 1, started small in 2001 and has been growing ever since. The lavender farm currently has state approval for a sign on Highway 20 at Libbey Road, but requires two additional signs, one at West Beach Road and the other at Darst Road, to help customers navigate the back roads and find the farm.

Connie Bowers, Public Works traffic engineer, assembled representatives from the chambers of commerce for a meeting to discuss the program. Oakes praised the legwork put in by Bowers.

“The program is to be completely funded through fees paid by the businesses,” he said. “The program should benefit the traveling public by helping them find their way.”

Lavender Wind Farm is the only applicant the county has so far. Other businesses have yet to hop onboard. The county, however, will continue to gauge community interest and offer the service regardless of the initial participation.

“It remains to be seen whether this is going to develop into a program that is active or it will just be something that is fairly low-key and not used very often,” said Randy Brackett, Public Works assistant county engineer.

At intersections that would require more than one follow-through sign, Bowers may decide to replace the individual signs with a generic sign to consolidate the business names. “Part of our goal in doing this is to minimize sign pollution,” Bowers said. “We want to keep things uniform so people can easily follow it. We want to help people out, but not be any more of an obstruction to people’s view than is absolutely necessary.”

Island County will provide the basic sign and the applicant is responsible for supplying the 12-inch by 24-inch business plaque. The plaques will be mounted on an 18 inch by 36-inch blue guide sign background. The county will then install the assembly within the right-of-way.

The applicant should submit an Island County Business Sign Follow-through Application, along with their approved WSDOT application, including the approval letter and paper copy of their logo or text.

The application fee is $150 and the installation fee is $100 for each follow-through sign. The annual permit fee is $50 per sign. The installation will be carried out within 90 days of permit approval.

The county will foot the bill one time for replacing a sign that has been vandalized or suffered vehicular damage. Repeated occurrences will be the responsibility of the business owner. Once the county has received the proper sign, it is expected to take approximately 90 days to fabricate and install them.

For more information about the new policy or the application process, contact Island County Public Works at 679-7331.