Oldsmar officials say illegal banners must be removed. But some business owners are resisting.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published June 20, 2003
OLDSMAR - With business down because of Internet competition and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, travel agent Barbara von Senger wanted people to know that Uniglobe means travel.
So she hung a banner that reads "Cruise & Travel" under the lighted Uniglobe sign on her travel agency.
"We want to make everyone aware of who we are and what we do," said von Senger, who has had her franchise for 21 years.
But Oldsmar officials say banners hung up by von Senger and several other merchants in the Forest Lakes Plaza on Tampa Road are illegal.
The center is located next to the Wal-Mart and includes a Winn-Dixie, restaurants, a beauty salon and several other shops. While the plaza's marquee lists most of the businesses, the owners say the type is too small. At least a half-dozen have hung banners to advertise their services and let people know they're there.
According to the city's land development code, "signs shall be erected, installed, constructed, or created only in accordance with a duly issued and valid sign permit from the Community Development Department." Banners used to advertise an event, such as a grand opening or seasonal sale, are allowed only four times per year and 14 days each time.
The business owners don't have a permit for the banners and almost all of them have been up longer than two weeks, said Greg Scoville, community development director.
That law has been on the books since 1997 when the code was adopted, Scoville said.
Susan Gavel, the owner of Munchies Natural Pet Foods, was cited a couple of months ago for her yellow banner. She took the banner down earlier this month to avoid paying a fine. The banner read "Munchies." The store sign says Natural Pet Food.
Gavel said it would have cost her $3,000 to change the store sign to "Munchies Natural Pet Foods." The banner was $250.
"We sit so far back from the road and nobody knows we're here," said Gavel, who opened her store last year. "I get harassed for having a cute little banner up there."
The City Council told the business owners at a meeting last month to remove the banners. But some say they're not removing the banners until after the Code Enforcement Board hearing on July 10. At that meeting, the board could slap the owners with a fine for not complying with the law.
In the most serious cases, violation of the code can result in a fine of up to $500 a day, six months in jail or both. Each day the banners are up constitutes a separate violation, Scoville said.
Nick Tirikos, the owner of Niko's Pizza & Seafood, still has his banner up that lets customers know that the restaurant also sells "Greek salads, gyros, beer and wine and more." He said new restaurants are opening up every day and the banner helps him compete.
"We want people to know where we are and we have no visibility," Tirikos said. "The plaza is loaded with trees, so from the main street they can't even see you."
Munchies Natural Pet Foods isn't listed on the marquee because of the cost, Gavel said. That made it even more important for her to have the banner, she said.
But being listed on the marquee doesn't help all that much, said von Senger. She said she gets customers all the time who say, " "I didn't know you were here. You've been here 21 years? Wow, I didn't know that."'
Von Senger had asked for a six-month extension to have her banner displayed until she could find a way to include the words "Cruise & Travel" on the building. That request was denied.
In a June 4 letter to von Senger, Scoville wrote "there are no provisions allowing for the extension of time for a banner to be displayed and the Code Enforcement Board does not have the authority to grant variances to the Land Development Code."
"It's really helped," von Senger said about her banner. "I would love to keep it up there another year, but what can I do?"
Daddy's Grill owner Khalil Sadeghpour said he would be the last one to take his banner down. The banner advertises that the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and is open seven days a week. Sadeghpour said he has had the banner since the restaurant opened in 1995.
"Nobody bothered me about it," he said. "For the first time, they're telling me I can't have it."
It doesn't matter how long Sadeghpour has had the banner, it's still illegal, Scoville said. He said for the owners to have banners is unfair to those businesses that comply with the law.
"Our community is an attractive place to do business," he said. "When you clutter it with that kind of signage you're only hurting the community."
