Intalco sign draws threat of fine
PEOPLE: With 930 jobs at risk, resident surprised by Sudden Valley's objections.
Paula Clawson, The Bellingham Herald
JAY DROWNS HERALD PHOTO
RAISING OBJECTIONS: Lynda Lagerwey shows the support sign that was posted on her front lawn in Sudden Valley.
Lynda Lagerwey can't post a yard sign showing her support of Alcoa Intalco Works because her yard is in the wrong neighborhood.
She lives in Sudden Valley, where covenants for the private community prohibit most yard signs.
Lagerwey put the 2-foot-by-15-inch sign in her yard on South Clematis Circle about a week ago. On Sunday, the community security force told her to remove it.
The sign, given her by an Intalco worker, read: "We support Alcoa Intalco Works and the aluminum industry."
"It really bothers me that Sudden Valley would not be a little more open-minded about supporting something that has such an impact on our community," Lagerwey said. "I feel I should have the right to express my feelings for an industry that's struggling."
Intalco announced in April that the smelter and its 930 jobs could be threatened because of high electricity costs. Lagerwey's father retired from Intalco, and many of her hair salon clients work there.
Lagerwey, who has lived in Sudden Valley about six years, she said didn't know about the sign restrictions.
"The covenant is about 975 pages so it's not like I'm going to sit down and read them page by page," she said.
The covenants prohibit most yard signs, including signs for political campaigns.
"We have the sign covenant to maintain a neatness about the valley and so neighbors of separate opinions don't get into sign wars," said David Olson, Sudden Valley's general manger. "It's a pretty standard covenant in homeowner's associations."
Courts have generally upheld neighborhood and private covenants, including sign restrictions, said Doug Honig, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union in Seattle.
A noted exception has been covenants that prohibited the sale of homes to members of ethnic minorities.
"If this was something in bad taste, or political or religious, I could totally understand that," Lagerwey said.
Sudden Valley residents can request permission for yard signs via the architectural control committee or the security force, Olson said. Lagerwey is now applying for that permission.
Until then, she'll keep her sign in a front window facing the street, which is permissible in the covenants.
If she had left her sign in the yard she could have been fined up to $100, Olson said.
"Something at important as 1,000 people losing their jobs, I don't think I should need to get permission for that sign," Lagerwey said. "I have very strong feelings for these guys and what it's going to do to our community."
