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Margate Sign Law may need closer look
• Small business owners get creative to generate business
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Friday,
May 22, 2009
Back in 1997, Margate city officials adopted the daunting task of revising city sign codes that had not been looked at since 1978. The goal was to clean up the look of Margate, say city officials, and to increase the uniformity of commercial districts.
More specifically: “to create the framework for a comprehensive and balanced system of sign control, thereby facilitating clear and attractive communication between people and their environment,” as stated in Margate City Code.
Signs have been an artistic form of expression since the dawn of small business – at least a couple of hundred years – and have always played an integral role in branding small business efforts. Not only are signs erected and posted to inform the public that a business is open, but act also as a visual aid in establishing a unique presence separate from the competition.
At issue in the late 1990s in Margate were the ‘hodgepodge’ of signs hanging from girders and poles along State Road 7, signs painted on the sides of buildings and assorted ‘larger than life’ colorful neon signs hanging in storefront windows. In researching archives, some city officials at the time were in favor of the new sign laws, while others thought the new sign code was all too restrictive for Margate small business.
One of the more controversial elements of the revised 1997 sign code was a law requiring pole signs to be replaced with ground-level monument signs with uniform colors and styles.
Over a decade later, the hodgepodge of signs, once the target of city officials, has now manifested itself in unsightly “For Rent” and “For Lease” signs that plaster the State Road 7 corridor (and other neighborhoods) in Margate – a city with commercial vacancy rate of between 30 and 40 percent.
Although ‘pole signs’ are illegal in Margate, strip-mall owners enjoy a loophole in the city code that define pole signs as permanent structures – not temporary ones. A temporary sign in the Margate City Code is defined as “Any sign other than a window sign intended for a use not permanent in nature. For the purposes of this chapter [article] any sign with an intended use of twelve (12) months or less shall be deemed a "temporary sign.”
Not only an eyesore on the roadside, business owners see the rash of signs as a conflict to sound business development: landlords are allowed to advertise empty space on temporary pole signs, but the small businesses that occupy their spaces are not.
"Understandably, strip-mall owners are in direct competition with one another to fill empty storefronts, but so are restaurants, boutiques, professional services and others who lease these storefronts," said one business owner who preferred to stay anonymous.
Signs such as the one advertising Kacey’s Caribbean Restaurant by 76 Avenue (seen at the right) have been thwarted on a daily basis by Margate Code Enforcement, as was a creative attempt by a new restaurant in the city, Trattoria Bella Cibo, to promote its “Jazz on the Avenue” series. Naturally, these signs are illegal according to code, but they may be an indication that’s it time to go back to the drawing board when it comes to Margate sign laws, or at least start making some special exceptions.
Seniors during a discussion group at the Focal Point Senior say Margate sign laws come up short for motorists. Unless a store has a monument sign close to the road (and many of them don’t), say seniors, they don’t even know a business exists. And even with a monument sign, it’s tough to read when traveling past it at 40 miles an hour.
A main tenet to the revised Margate sign law, as indicated in its ‘Statement of Purpose,’ is to ensure that Margate signage is “Conducive to promoting traffic safety by preventing visual distraction,” which is contradictory to what signs are meant to be – visual distractions.
A tough argument would be pitting this type of visual distraction against the physical distraction of talking on one’s cell phone while driving – but cell-phone use wasn’t an issue in 1997. In addition, revised sign laws often require motorists to look in a direction perpendicular to the road in order to see a business that isn't listed on a monument sign.
This type of distraction, where a motorist is actually looking away from the road, presents a danger to motorists.
Revised 1997 sign laws also state that signage should be “Expressive of the identity of individual proprietors or of the community as a whole,” which may have taken somewhat of a backseat over the years in the eyes of some Margate business owners.
Although the city has allowed business owners to get creative and park vans and trucks with their signs posted on the side of the vehicles in parking spaces close to the road, the law requires that the vehicle cannot be located in the same parking space every day.
Oftentimes, a landlord will not foot the bill to have a monument sign posted on their property unless all tenants participate, and many of them don’t. One restaurateur says monument signs leave little room for his restaurant to convey a unique image and went as far as referring to monument signs as tombstones, because they represent the death of freedom of expression.
People are spending more time in their cars now than ever. And being seen as a small business by these motorists may be the difference between staying open or closing your doors, especially if you’re located on State Road 7 in Margate or in a strip-mall set back from the road.
Margate officials have voiced concern in the past over making special exceptions regarding signage, fearing that once they approve one temporary or pole sign, they’ll have to approve them all, which may not be the case, as they have the power to discuss and to vote on a sign’s artistic license, its professional nature and its safety, as well as the impact that the sign may have on the business requesting a sign variance, other businesses in the area, and the community which the business serves.
Although Margate is one city, it is comprised of a variety of cultures, neighborhoods and businesses, many of which have distinct needs that don’t necessarily fall under the definition of “uniform.” And although there is little doubt that at one time State Road 7 was an unsightly place for dilapitated, unkept signs, the 1997 sign laws may need to be refreshed. __________________________________________
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Copyright Cassius Group 2009
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