Photo: Gregg Pachkowski, Pensacola News Journal
“Santa Rosa County has been cracking down on unlawful snipe and feather signs in front of businesses.
Santa Rosa County Commissioners were at a near deadlock Monday about whether to pull back enforcement of the county’s feather sign ordinance, which has angered small business owners as the revamped code enforcement department has implemented a crackdown in recent weeks…
The problem is that although the ordinance regarding feather signs has been in the county books for decades, it hasn’t actually been enforced until last month. Multiple small business owners who have been using feather signs for years told commissioners they were surprised to learn they were prohibited.
Eric Vines, who owns a small business called Cellular Nerd, said he was visited by code enforcement and asked to remove his signs. He called the ordinance ‘misleading’ and said the rules ‘don’t make any sense.’
District 2 Commissioner Bob Cole said it wasn’t the board’s intent to hurt small businesses when it opted to strengthen the code enforcement department in January, and added that ‘it’s my fault for perhaps not reading the code long and hard enough.’
‘Derelict vessels, derelict automobiles, derelict housing, tattered signs, and the snipe signs that are on public property … in the public right of way, were my concerns,’ Cole said. “It certainly wasn’t to involve businesses and hurt businesses…”
But County Attorney Roy Andrews and County Administrator Dan Schebler warned against ceasing to enforce all sign ordinances, saying it could open up a “Pandora’s box” and lead to rampant sign usage throughout the county.
‘To me, this is about what do we want Santa Rosa County to look like?’ Schebler said. ”
— Annie Blanks, Pensacola News Journal
Read entire articlehttps://www.pnj.com/story/news/2019/05/06/santa-rosa-county-code-enforcement-sign-crackdown-upsets-businesses/1118960001/