Tonight, the Lee County Planning Commission will meet at 6pm at the T Page Tharpe Building – in the Opal Cannon Auditorium where the Board of Commissioners meets, I think.
From what I have been told, the only thing on the Agenda (which is not online at this time) is the “final draft” of the new proposed Lee County Sign Ordinance, which you can see for yourself in .docx form here based on a scan from a printed copy I was given.
One issue is that retailers are not allowed to cover more than 25% of their windows – which means some pretty drastic changes for convenience stores and other businesses. The Institute for Justice has already tackled a similar ban in Dallas, TX.
To me, pretty much the entire “multiple message sign” issue on pages 12-14 (via page numbers on bottom of page) needs to be scrapped, as it unduly restricts the rights of businesses and property owners. In particular, the limitations on how often a sign rotates, the ban on signs changing from 11p to 6a, and the limitation that there can only be 10 multiple message billboards and 35 multiple message signs gives economic advantages and preferences to some businesses over others.
One good thing they did from an earlier version I have seen is that they removed flag pole restrictions in residential neighborhoods. In earlier drafts, you could not have more than a single flag pole in your yard, though some people like to have a 3 flagpole arrangement and others have both a flagpole on their house and a freestanding one. Now the flagpole restrictions only apply in C1, C2, C3, and I zoning districts.
I’ve only had time for a cursory glance this morning, and hope to be able to offer more comments tonight.
I still cannot understand why we need a sign ordinance at all.
And we don’t need community sign-nazis either.
Completely agree with you on the first. On the second: I’ve never spoken to Lee County Code Enforcement Officer Jim Wright about any sign, political or otherwise. I HAVE written defending free political expression by pointing out where Lee County Code violates State law. I HAVE actively worked to fix thius problem and convince our governments to let us have as much of our God-given freedom as I can.
I agreed with your point on the conflict with state law from the beginning.
The second wasn’t directed at you. It was referencing the primary election political sign whining. I thought that was a little inconsistent.