New Sign Ordinance Gets Preliminary OK

Business owners will have to start complying with city sign regulations after a long enforcement hiatus, but they will have months to prepare for it.

City Council members gave preliminary approval this week to a revised ordinance that governs temporary promotional signs. However, Chamber of Commerce officials, some of whom helped draft the new version of the law, said even those restrictions are too much.

“Businesses need the ability and the tools to promote themselves,” said Fred Whitaker, a chamber spokesman.

Specifically, retailers objected to the time restrictions on promotional banners, even though the revisions allow them to hang banners 150 days each year--a dramatic increase from the 45 days they had been permitted.

Retailers haven’t had to worry about violations of sign rules since the summer of 1994, when code enforcement officers eased up on citations because of the lingering recession, according to a report from Community Development Director Jack McGee.

Enforcers were back on the job the next year, but business owners waged a vocal protest, earning them more freedom from citations as they helped draft a compromise plan to the city’s current sign ordinance.

After six public hearings before the Planning Commission over the last 18 months, the revised regulations are finally ready to be written into the city code.

McGee said the city will start enforcing the regulations in geographic areas. All businesses will be notified and given time to comply, which means it could be summer again before anyone starts holding them to the law, he said.