Perry City Council discusses changes to sanitation, sign ordinances

PERRY -- Perry City Council discussed changing its sanitation and sign ordinances during its work session Monday night.

The city’s sign ordinance prohibits businesses from displaying signs that flap in the wind or are set in motion by the “atmosphere,” according to the ordinance.

Several business owners and churches have complained about the ordinance hurting their promotion or advertising, said City Manager Lee Gilmour.

“The bottom line is: the city says you cannot have banners and signs up around the city,” he said.

The Planning and Zoning Division is working on a revised policy to present to the Council in about a month, said Director of Community Development Mike Beecham.

“Right now they’re looking at essentially mirroring the current downtown regulations citywide with the exception of (display times),” Beecham said.

Current restrictions downtown limit the size of banners to 16 square feet and require they be attached flat to a building. Permitted banners can be displayed downtown for up to 30 days before being removed for up to 90 days. Beecham said the Planning and Zoning Division is considering changing that to two 14-day periods.

“We’re changing our definitions in the ordinance,” Beecham said. “That’s one of the big things I think was needed. A banner is a sign with or without characters, letters, illustrations or ornamentations applied to cloth, paper, flexible plastic or fabric of any kind with only such material for backing. A banner is a sign but not all signs are banners, obviously.”

Beecham said flags and balloons would not be allowed.

“We left in the catch-all of, ‘anything set in motion by the atmosphere.’ ” Beecham said.

Mayor Jimmy Faircloth suggested the Council postpone making a decision until it hears recommendations from the Planning and Zoning Division.

The Council also discussed several changes to the sanitation ordinance, including rules concerning yard debris collection.

Director of Public Works Decius Aaron said there are currently no regulations about yard debris.

“We want to limit it to one pile because currently people have (multiple) piles along the same property,” Aaron said, noting that public works might make four or five stops at one residence.

The proposed ordinance change would require residents to cut yard debris to a certain length and bundle it by the road for pickup. It would also remove size and weight requirements from bulk loads.

The updated ordinance will be read for the first time Tuesday night at the 6 p.m. meeting in City Hall.

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or follow her on Twitter@Lauraecor.

This story was originally published August 17, 2015 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Perry City Council discusses changes to sanitation, sign ordinances ."