Regulations As A Whole On Signal Mountain

  • Thursday, October 8, 2015

A few years ago I was flying over Chattanooga on my way to Atlanta.  The sun had just come up and I enjoyed picking out Signal Mountain’s location, on Walden’s Ridge, in the morning light.  What was amazing was that I could not tell that a town existed under the tree canopy.  I hope that the same can be said 10, 20, or even 50 years from now. 

During last year’s election for Town Council it was difficult to figure out where the winning candidates stood on future growth and the appearance of our town.  Unfortunately the subject was not adequately explored during the forums.  Two of our elected officials have since indicated that landowners ought to be able to gain full economic benefit from their property and that a property owner should be able to do what they want with their property.  As a soundbite that may seem reasonable, but for practical purposes in a primarily residential town, is that what we, the majority of the single family property owners, really want?  Or do we feel that the subdivision regulations and zoning ordinances (including setback and lot size restrictions) should all come together in a pleasant, cohesive and attractive manner?  Did we ask our candidates the right questions?  Maybe not. 

Did the campaigning candidates indicate that they believed removing the prohibition for new light box signs was necessary to aid the business community, thus moving us in a different direction from our peer cities -  towns and cities in Tennessee and elsewhere who are phasing out light boxes?  I’d like to suggest that before we change our sign ordinances we objectively identify the challenges local businesses face (such as competition from the internet, Wal-Mart, selling the right product at the right price, etc.)   Marketing studies are useful things, probably more useful than light boxes in a community that has very little traffic that isn’t locally generated.  I hope that before we relax regulations and ordinances that have been implemented to preserve the look and feel of our community in the trees, our elected officials will carefully consider how these regulations work as a unified whole. 

Melissa Cantrell
Signal Mountain 

* * * 

In response to the portion of Mrs. Cantrell’s letter that addresses signage, light boxes are only one of nine changes the DRC is currently addressing at the direction of the Town Council. Councilman Bob Spalding, DRC liaison, presented the DRC with a Sign Ordinance Change Request from the council a few months ago. The request states the changes are to help streamline the approval process of signs (Dr. Spalding reports to the Town Council that sign approvals take many months for some businesses), be more development friendly to the business community, and to apply new technologies (don’t know what this new technology is).

The nine sign change requests are:

Sign Height  -  increase 4 foot max.

Allow Light Boxes again

Allow internally illuminated signs

Increase square footage from 25 to 32 (square feet)

Omit Logo percentage (currently 10 percent of the sign is allowed as logo)

Banners

Window Displays

Electronic Reader Boards (Councilman Chris Howley is pushing this change. Currently Reader Boards are prohibited)

Base signage on linear store front

Several new ordinances will be voted on at the council meeting this Monday as a result of this list.

A few years ago, sign regulations were updated based on extensive feedback from the community and the current regulations reflect the look the community wants. But the changes requested by this council will allow Mrs. Cantrell to easily spot Signal Mountain from the air. It is the area shining brightly thru the trees. 

I would like to note the DRC is a group of volunteers who do their best to uphold our current regulations. They are put in a difficult position of changing the current look of the town that the citizens want to a very different look the current town council wants. They have their work cut out for them.

Claire Griesinger
Signal Mountain

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