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April 22 Code News and Sign Trends

Ordinance activity never rests

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As long as there are signs to be installed, there will be objections to them by people with any number of agendas. Here’s the latest crop of news compiled from newspapers and websites nationwide:

• In West Allis, WI, a Milwaukee suburb, a unique sign-ordinance provision greenlighted a retro-cool, changing-color, 23-ft.-tall sign for Oscar’s, a popular hamburger shop that’s also well known for its custard desserts. According to Sign Effectz (Milwaukee) owner Adam Brown, shop designer Michael Dlugi met with Oscar’s owners Jim and Susie Taylor. Susie showed Michael a custard-filled cone and said, “This is how I want my sign to look!” The shop has also built unique signs for two Milwaukee coffee purveyors, Stone Creek and Colectivo. However, local codes only permit 10-ft.-tall signs, which didn’t provide sufficient sightlines along Wisconsin Hwy. 100, the major thoroughfare that passes by the restaurant. However, West Allis implemented a unique provision into its sign code. If a sign is deemed “unique or creative”, and is deemed an asset to the overall community, exemptions are permitted provided the sign doesn’t present a safety hazard. At presstime, Brown noted that the sign will be installed in late May or early June.
• In Sarasota, FL, city officials are debating a new ordinance that would provide a clear definition of what constitutes a sign, according to www.mysuncoast.com. The Sarasota City Commission’s intent is, evidently, to crack down on signs being installed in public rights-of-way. Currently, the ordinance only prohibits advertising signs in such places. However, after anti-panhandling signs were put up by the Downtown Merchants Assn., a civil-rights activist retaliated with strongly worded signs such as “Sarasota: The World’s Meanest City” and “Don’t Spent your $$$ Downtown”. The commission must conduct a second reading before the ordinance can become an official code.
• Honest Ed’s, a legendary Toronto discount retailer that will reportedly close up shop at the end of 2016 because a Vancouver-based developer bought its property, is helping patrons take home their memories by allowing them to buy handpainted signs that adorn shop walls. The store’s iconic yellow, red and blue logo is featured on the signs, which include a stamp of authenticity. According to www.ctvnews.com, Ed Mirvish founded the store at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor Streets in 1948, and his son David eventually took over the store. David said, “A lot of people bought their first frying pan here, or their first winter coat.”
• Elizabethton, TN’s regional planning commission is considering a revision to its sign code to rectify what Jon Hartman, the town’s planning director, calls “extremely short and confusing”, according to www.wcyb.com. The article notes the commission wants to regulate signs by residential and commercial zones, with different regulations for each. Also, the proposal would outlaw “human directionals’’ – blow-up signs or anyone waving signs along the roadside.
• West Lebanon, NH has reversed an initial decision and approved a request for an illuminated sign outside the town’s ice rink near Hanover, according to www.vnews.com. The Hanover Improvement Society had requested the sign, which was first rejected at a February meeting. However, Al Patterson, a board member who missed the February meeting when the sign proposal was denied passage because of a tie, attended the board’s April meeting and cast a decisive vote in a 3-2 approval. However, the board was less generous with the local Tractor Supply store; it denied a request for the store’s sign to exceed the sign square footage allowed by the town’s ordinance.
 

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