by Curtis D. Tucker
A group of 30 sign makers, business owners and residents met to discuss the city’s current sign ordinance and the confusion and dissatisfaction they have with many aspects of it.
Ward 6 Commissioner David Vanhooser steered the meeting but all city commissioners were in attendance. The reason for the special meeting was due to the high number of variances requested in the current ordinances. City commissioners believe with that many variances there must be something wrong with the current ordinance.
Brent Kisling, Director of ERDA, was asked to speak about the signs out at the new Thunder Plaza and soon to be built Love's on highway 412. Kisling pointed out that businesses on roadways with higher speed limits need more visibility for their signs.
Real estate agents from many of the local real estate companies were on hand as well. They also had many concerns because they deal with a number of new businesses moving to Enid. Companies find Enid's signage ordinances to be restrictive and limiting.
Bud Nicholas, with Nicholas Real Estate, suggested the commission appoint a group to help study and correct the ordinance issues. He felt the limited size of certain signs was a big issue.
Joe Kline, of Kline Sign, talked about the height restrictions and the problems he faces when he has to repair older signs that are grandfathered in with higher placement. He felt the current sign ordinance needed to be looked at by sign professionals as well as city commissioners.
Kline cited examples of his permits being rejected and holding up businesses from opening. He felt the old ordinance was better than the newest one. There was also discussion about sign permits being placed in business windows and the fact that most businesses were completely unaware of the ordinance. When asked about fees Kline felt they were in line with other cities our size.
Paul Stone, owner of Sings On A Dime, talked about the restrictions and problems associated with banners and window signs. He felt not all businesses were following the ordinances and yet nothing was being done to correct the problem. His main concern was the problems he encountered trying to explain the banner ordinance to his business customers.
Main Street Enid's, Kelly Tompkins spoke about the downtown businesses and window signs. She pointed out that historical buildings and downtown businesses had different restrictions than businesses outside of downtown. The small window signs were thought to possibly be a hazard to drivers as they searched for businesses while driving.
Developer Bob Berry talked about billboards. He pointed out that some had been removed to open up the beauty of Enid. He suggested looking at other cities the size of Enid and studying their ordinances and sign restrictions. He also pointed to a study and spreadsheet that had been developed earlier that might be used as a guide for future ordinances.
Gary Young, with RE/MAX, had questions about scrolling signs and brought up how they had improved over the years. He also questioned some commercial real estate signs being larger than they were supposed to be and the cost it would entail to reduce their size.
Many attendees agreed that code enforcement cannot police all signs. Getting rid of permits for little signs and many of the size restrictions was thought to be a possible solution.
All in all it was a very constructive meeting and well worth everyone's effort to attend. At later meetings with some of the commissioners I was told that they felt it was a great way to gather feedback from those concerned with specific problems. They were looking forward to having more of these types of meetings in the future. Commissioner Vanhooser invites anyone that could not make the meeting to email or message him with questions or suggestions. His Facebook page is www.facebook.com/vanhooser.forenid.
