Back in 2014, when Chris Howley and Bob Spalding were campaigning for seats on the Signal Mountain town council, two of their favorite targets for change were the town’s sign ordinance and the design review committee which enforced it.
Preventing business owners from designing signs as they see fit, the two candidates argued, hampered their ability to advertise what they were selling and attract new customers.
“As the only storefront business owner running as a candidate, I found personally the DRC is not responsive to the needs of business” Dr.
Spalding, a podiatrist, said during a candidates’ forum sponsored by the Mountain Business Association. “My new sign has provided me with 15 percent more business and it was like picking eye teeth out with the DRC all the way.”
Now, with town council members scheduled to vote tonight on a series of ordinances that completely revamp Signal’s sign approval process, business owners craving new outdoor advertising signs are expected to find life much easier.
Effective immediately, if the ordinances are approved, neither the town nor the design review committee will have any say whatsoever regarding “graphic design and graphic elements . . . such as sign color, font, logo, text, shape and pictures.”
The proposed changes, which assign initial review of proposed signs to the town’s building inspector rather than the DRC, are intended to streamline the process of getting town approval for advertising and other signs.
In addition to businesses, the proposed changes would apply to subdivision and/or residential development entry signs, according to the ordinances.
The changes cannot come too soon for some council members.
During the group’s Aug. 28 agenda session, for example, Mr. Howley informed fellow members that he and school board member Jonathan Welch already were working on plans for a programmable or electronic reader board sign at Signal Mountain Middle/High School.