The Impact of Signs on the Community

As many of you may know, at the City Council meeting last Thursday Council approved new sign regulations for the city. This is a project that the four people on the Policy Subcommittee of the Planning Commission spent months and countless hours putting together to ensure that safe, fair, and balanced regulations would be implemented.

We all know the importance of having an attractive community. When people first drive in to your community, you want to provide a great first impression. Signs play a role in shaping and creating an attractive community. A sign that is too tall, too big, or too small contributes to an out-of-scale look that stands out in the community. Imagine a sign the size of a billboard for Applebee’s. Sure, you could see an Applebee’s was coming up a mile away, but what would it look like closer up. I would venture to say it probably wouldn’t contribute to the overall aesthetics that we want here in Elizabethton.

The new regulations passed by City Council take a different approach to regulating signs that what we have done in the past. Before, signs were regulated by what they said or what symbols they had on it. With the new regulations, the type of zone the business currently is in will determine sign sizes and height.

Temporary signs will also be regulated in a similar manner. These types of signs are permitted in certain zones, but not in others. In addition, different sign types are permitted as well as off-premise temporary signage. This would allow businesses to display their temporary signage off-premise so long as it would be allowed in that particular zone.

A few changes were also made to help improve the aesthetics of signs. One is the requirement that all permanent signs must have a landscape area around all freestanding signs. This would require bushes, flowers, or simply just grass around the base of a freestanding sign. Freestanding pole signs would also be required to enclose the pole support structure. This will help prevent rusting of the metal and give the overall sign a more pleasant look.

Many of the changes both the Planning Commission and the City Council believe will help make Elizabethton a better, more attractive place to live and visit. It’s important to remember that no sign regulation is perfect, but we believe this is a start in the right direction. We do want to hear from you! What additional improvements can we make to the sign regulations? How would you like to see signs regulated in our community? Let’s talk about it!

From www.ClarksvilleOnline.com.