The majority of the more than 100 downtown business owners who showed up to a public meeting Thursday night want the city to allow more signs in storefront windows. The green dots were part of an exercise set up by city staff, and they stood for “acceptable.” A mass of them were placed on a large poster board depicting a business window almost completely covered with fliers.
Axel Mercier, owner of New Union Tattoo, and other participants didn’t like the exercise and said the posters depicting businesses with different amounts of signs didn’t give a good representation of what downtown would look like.
“It’s back at them,” he said of the participants’ choice to load the picture with the most signs with green dots.
The purpose of the meeting was to both get business owners’ input on a sign regulation that prohibits them from covering up more than 10 percent of their windows and to improve communication between city officials and the public.
The city council voted earlier this month to hold off on enforcing the regulation after business owners erupted with frustration. The city in 2008 amended a regulation that restricted the number of signs allowed outside a building’s storefront to include the number inside. but the city at the time failed to enforce the change.
Deputy City Manager Tony Caudle will present the findings from the public meeting to council on Tuesday, but any changes to the ordinance would likely take months.
“Do not expect us to take immediate action,” Caudle said.
Downtown Business Alliance member Chris Andrews presented findings of a survey of business owners that showed the more than 100 respondents wanted to change the sign ordinance and thought the city could be more cooperative and supportive of businesses. Andrews said he was pleased the city was taking steps to better communicate.
“I think this is a pretty good indication already that it is improving,” he said. “This is not an us vs. them. This is about us coming together and working together.”
Mercier said the city’s approach to the sign ordinance perturbed the downtown merchants.
“Because of that heavy-handed approach you’re seeing very bad reactions from business owners,” he said.
But not everyone wants to see more signs in downtown windows.
Mike Loch, who co-owns Crescent Moon in the Cotton Exchange with his wife, said: “I have a concern for an overabundance of signs on some of these businesses, but that’s a personal preference.”
Kelsey Gibbs recently opened her store, The wonder Shop, on North Front Street and has been hesitant to put any signs in her windows. She said she just wants to be clear on what’s allowed and that it is fair to all sides.
Hunter Ford, owner of Momentum on Front Street, said he was upset no council members attended the public meeting and that a questionnaire handed out to audience participants didn’t include an option to check for how he found out about the meeting – a flier in a storefront window. City officials say it was not on the questionnaire because the flier was not distributed by the city.
Council will consider the business owners’s concerns and whatever change members make, if any, will affect all businesses in Wilmington, not just downtown.
Shelby Sebens: 343-2076
Twitter: @ShelbySebens
