Waiting for another sign

LAKE FOREST PARK — Towne Center business owners will likely applaud the Council’s unanimous decision June 24 to send the city’s sign regulations ordinance back to the economic development committee and planning commission for review.

And the applause will likely get louder when they hear that the Council would like the commissions to make recommendations about signs on the exterior of the mall for interior businesses.

The new sign code, adopted in 2000, does not allow exterior signs for businesses whose space does not touch an exterior wall, said city administrator Karen Haines.

At a May 27 public hearing, many concerned business owners spoke to the Council about their sign concerns, most saying that because they were located inside the mall, customers often could not easily locate their store. The ordinance under review, however, did not address sign issues at Towne Center, but focused on increasing the height of non-commercial signs and grandfathering all signs found to be in compliance prior to the adoption of the current sign code.

Janiece Hoggatt, owner of Style Masters Salon in the mall, tearily explained to the Council that there are no signs on the outside of the mall to indicate her salon exists. With JoAnn Fabrics closing, she said fewer families will be walking past her business. Other stores surrounding hers have also closed, she said.

“This leaves me with the only viable businesses,” Hoggatt said. “I need a sign.”

Hoggatt said that small signs, basically just a list of businesses located inside the mall, were in place before the mall was remodeled several years ago. When remodeling was finished, however, the signs were never resituated.

Jeff Weissman, owner of Great Harvest Bread, located inside Towne Center, said that outside signs for small business within the mall will soon be even more important, with the announcement that JoAnn Fabrics will be leaving the mall. With one more large, empty space, fewer people will be visiting the mall.

“If we can’t be seen, people won’t stop,” Weissman said. “I am scared.”

Council member Alan Kiest said the Council decided to send the ordinance back to the commissions in order to look at sign options for businesses. He said one option might be a reader board at main entrances, which is where people who visit the mall for the first time will likely enter. The reader boards, he said, could be tastefully installed outside the mall.

“I heard stories of somebody who called up and said ‘I am coming over to your store,’ and they couldn’t find it” Kiest said. “I would like to see a smooth way to address that.”