Town Center canopy, projecting signs get conditional BOMA approval 4-1; White votes no - ‘cheapen buildings’
Town Center businesses will be allowed to have canopy and projecting signs, with some restrictions, as Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen, on second reading in a 4-1 vote, approved the amendment to its sign ordinance during its meeting Thursday, June 27.
Ordinance 24-06 amended the Town’s Code Chapter 109-Signs, which allowed provisions for canopy and larger second-story projecting — or perpendicular — signs in the Mixed Use Town Center.
While Mayor Ron Williams, Vice Mayor Louise Povlin and Aldermen Scott Meyer and Drew Burnette voted in favor of the amendment, Alderman David White voted against it, as he also had done on the ordinance’s first reading on June 13.
“I spoke against it last time, and of course, I still don’t like them,” White said about the signs. “I think they cheapen the buildings.
“These type signs, there’s a reason they weren’t allowed before — and a reason they shouldn’t be allowed now — because they’re tacky,” he said. “I just think it’s a mistake.”
“As you know, these two signs are currently not provided for in the code, and they’re being targeted for the Mixed Use Town Center area,” assistant Community Development director Bart Hose said. “The canopy signs would be mounted on hard structural canopies that are flat roofed, and the projecting signs would be mounted to buildings, above 10 feet, either on the second floor or the portion of the building that appears to be the second floor.
“The Planning Commission and the Visual Resources Review Board have both reviewed the proposed amendments and recommended their adoption,” Hose added. “The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the ordinance on first reading at its June 13 meeting.”
Regarding another sign ordinance, White reminded political candidates to keep their signs out of the right-of-way.
“(Knox County candidates) can put your signs in the right-of-way in Knox County, but in the Town of Farragut, we have an ordinance that doesn’t allow you to do that,” he said. “We’ve had some signs in the right-of-way already, and they have been removed.”
