City’s sign ordinance under review

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November 2, 2012

City’s sign ordinance under review

Local business owners say current language leaves them with little choices

Bryant Thigpen Suwannee Democrat The Suwannee Democrat Fri Nov 02, 2012, 01:41 PM EDT

Live Oak — About two years of negotiations on the city of Live Oak’s sign ordinance it may be coming to a close as the Live Oak City Council met with a committee, made up of local business owners on Monday night. A workshop was held at City Hall to resolve the ongoing issues between the two parties regarding the sign ordinance, one that business owners are not happy about.

Roy Guercio of Dairy Queen ran into unusual obstacles when trying to replace a sign for his business that had been there for years. Guercio, along with other Suwannee County Chamber of Commerce members and business owners, approached Chamber President Dennis Cason with these issues. A committee was then formed to assist the owners in resolving the matters with the ordinance.

The committee sat down with past council members, but nothing was ever resolved or agreed upon.

 “This has been going on now for 23 months,” stated Guercio. “We would do one review, and would go over it, but nothing would be set in stone. We would do a second review, go over it, and still nothing was done or changed. This just kept going on.”

One of the biggest complaints that business owners have is the fees that accompany the placing of a sign in the city limits. According to Building Official Roy Rogers, when an individual seeks to place a sign in the city limits, they must first get approval from Development Manager George Curtis. If the sign is small and non-electrical, the sign purchaser would only have to purchase a permit (fee is based on value of the sign). If the signs are large in size and need electricity, one could be looking at additional fees of an electrician and/or engineer.

Curtis stated that “all state-wide sign vendors and installers, have had nothing but praise for the building and planning departments in respect to their applications.” Guercio noted that it’s great that the vendors and installers have praised them for their efforts in providing great service, however, they’re not the ones opening a business or paying the fees.

Curtis told the board that large corporations who have moved into the city have not had a problem with the current ordinance. Guercio said that larger businesses plan to spend mega money on signs, but that doesn’t benefit the small business owners.

Business owners also complained about the limitations put on the sign purchasers by the ordinance. Guercio said that when he first went to put up a sign for his business, he was told he couldn’t have pictures or full color. He was limited to just two colors for the scrolling text, which was also not highly favored.

“The thing is, when you go to Perry, Lake City, Valdosta, or any surrounding city, you expect to see big flashing signs,” Council President Adam Prins said.  

Current regulations even prohibits car dealerships from using balloons, blow-up figures or people walking along sidewalks advertising with signs.

The regulations, except for what is set forth by the Florida Statutes, are guided by the city council.  According to Curtis, “It depends on what type of town you want to have. If you want it to look trashy like Lake City, we can do that.”

“Look at Lake City,” Councilman Bennie Thomas said. “They’re not sitting there with empty shopping malls.”

As Coy Howell of North Florida Printing Company Inc. stated, the ordinance is just “not business friendly.”

Curtis was clear that although his job is to recommend regulations based on his professional experience and research, it’s ultimately up to the council on what guidelines are set in place.

Representatives from the committee are expected to meet with Curtis to review the current ordinance and to develop the guidelines to be more “business friendly.” Amendments to the ordinance will be brought before the council for a final approval.