BLYTHEWOOD – All business owners, property owners and organizations within the town limits, and especially those with non-conforming signs, are encouraged to attend a public meeting about the Town government’s sign ordinance at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18 at The Manor.
The purpose of the meeting is to talk about those signs in the Town that are out of conformance with the current sign ordinance and what will be required for them to conform to the ordinance by 2016, the deadline set in 2009 for compliance. Taller signs along the interstate for McDonald’s, the Sharpe Shoppes BP, Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn Express have until 2020 to conform.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Town Planner Michael Criss, there are 27 ground-mounted signs in the town that do not conform to the sign ordinance. At last month’s Planning Commission meeting, a surprise announcement was made by Chairman Malcolm Gordge that, “The Town Council is anxious to explore every avenue in addressing those non-conformities rather than continue with the drop-dead date for compliance.”
Gordge said Council is rethinking the sign ordinance and that it is “obviously going to cause some difficulties for local businesses, especially those with the larger signs.”
The meeting will be led by a panel of representatives from the town’s Planning Commission, Board of Architectural Review and Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce. Town Administrator Gary Parker said at the October Planning Commission meeting that he wants to get notices out to businesses with non-conforming signs at least a year before the ordinance deadline.
“What’s being proposed,” Gordge said, is “to get some feedback to determine how the businesses perceive this requirement to comply with the ordinance, what the impact on their businesses might be and what the costs and difficulties might be so that we have plenty of time to come to a compromise.”
For more information, contact Kirk Wilson, building inspection and code enforcement assistant for the Town at 754-0501 or Michael Criss, the Town’s planning consultant, at 608-9163.
