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Merchants oppose sign law changes

They say a ban on freestanding signs would hurt motorists, especially on the busiest corridors.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Published December 16, 2005

LARGO - The city's vision - a downtown with low-profile business signs, perfectly trimmed trees and no flashy advertisements - is a nightmare to merchants who stake their livelihoods on catching customers' attention.

City officials have proposed a citywide ban on freestanding signs to get rid of driveby clutter and help shape a revitalized, dreamy downtown.

Those competing opinions clashed Thursday morning during a round table discussion of the Largo/Mid-Pinellas Chamber of Commerce. About 15 merchants turned out for what will likely be the first in a series of meetings on the proposal.

"You punish us when you say you want to beautify us," said Ron Bortolini, owner of Durable Coatings on Clearwater-Largo Road. "This is not Disney World and the fancy town they built there. . . . Soon enough you're going to make us wear the same uniforms at our business. I need creativity and free enterprise."

City officials have proposed revising the sign ordinance after years of casual enforcement and confusion among business owners over what constitutes a violation. The result, Largo officials say, has been a surge in the use of temporary signs, paintings on buildings and people dressed as pizza slices and other characters who are paid to wave at passing traffic.

"We do have a mish-mash of product out there," said Mike Staffopoulos, the city's community development director.

But one of the biggest offenders is the freestanding sign. Whether it's supported by one pole or two, when combined with other signs it "overwhelms the viewer's ability to interpret all the information presented," a 10-page city report concludes.

To city officials, the ideal solution would require all businesses to have one monument sign. Mayor Bob Jackson singled out HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital on North Clearwater-Largo Road as having a sign that meets the proposed standards. It is built atop a low concrete pedestal and sits amid flowering shrubs.

As proposed, businesses with nonconforming signs would have seven to 10 years to remove them. Old abandoned signs at vacant buildings also would be targeted for immediate removal.

On Thursday, merchants told Staffopoulos that a ban on freestanding signs would hurt motorists, especially on the busiest corridors, because they would have to search and squint to see monument signs. And by giving business owners more restrictions rather than incentives, the city would risk alienating its largest tax base: them.

"I understand that you don't want blighted signs out near the street or anything," said Stu Brown, owner and operator of two McDonald's on East Bay and West Bay drives. "But this whole signage thing - did people from the public come to you and say, "Let's do something about this?' Or did someone on the commission decide, "Let's be like other communities.' "

Other merchants chided the city for trying to become a Dunedin, Safety Harbor or Belleair, when it is just plain Largo.

Staffopoulos defended the proposals as necessary for providing a level playing field for businesses. Ultimately, he said, businesses both inside and outside the redevelopment districts should have to follow the same set of rules. Currently, there are three sets of rules: one for each redevelopment district and a third for the rest of the city.

Some business owners remained unconvinced.

Bortolini said he started out with a 50-square-foot sign when his paint shop opened in 1991. When the current sign ordinance was enacted, he eventually had to reduce the sign to 32 square feet. Even if the city gave him seven years to buy a new sign, said Bortolini, it would cause financial hardship that seems particularly insulting after his previous run-ins with city leadership.

In the early 1990s, Bortolini helped spearhead the redevelopment of a blighted Clearwater-Largo Road. The merchants put in money and effort, but the City Commission has largely failed on its end, he said.

"You can't keep chipping us down like that when we don't have much money," he told Staffopoulos and Jackson.

Staffopoulos said the merchants made good suggestions, and that he would look into the idea of giving incentives for their help in shaping the downtown image.

"They promise us incentives and this is the sixth time they've come at us with restrictions," Bortolini countered. "This city does not understand the word partnership."

Largo officials are talking about writing new regulations for business signs to reduce visual clutter in the city. The city's proposal is still taking shape, but here are some of the key ideas so far:

OUT: Signs supported by poles, also known as freestanding signs. Existing signs atop poles would have to be removed within seven to 10 years under the current version of the city's proposal.

IN: One monument sign per business. Monument signs are put on a pedestal no more than 3 feet tall and have a low profile.

Temporary signs.

Signs painted on buildings.

People dressed as characters waving to motorists from the side of the road.

[Last modified December 16, 2005, 00:54:19]