By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Fayetteville City Council will have its first public hearing Monday on a new sign ordinance that restricts the number of American flags a business can fly.

Public comment also will be accepted at tonight's planning session for the Monday meeting. Both meetings are at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Businesses will be able to fly no more than two flags — one each for up to two government entities — under a new sign ordinance recommended by the city Planning Commission.

Some businesses fly large numbers of American flags to call attention to their locations, and that constitutes advertising, said commission member Segis “Al” Lipscomb during a recent work session to discuss a number of changes in the sign law. It's against federal law to use the American flag in advertising, she added.

In addition to that change and a number of new restrictions on sizes and types of signs, the commission is recommending that no internally lighted signs be allowed.

A local businessman protested that whether one prefers lighted or unlighted signs is a matter of personal taste, but city planner Todd Miller said it's more than that.

“We're adding more and more to the sky glow, and getting further and further away from the small town community that has made Fayetteville such an attractive community to move to,” he said.

City Council will have its formal first reading of the ordinance Monday, with plans to approve it May 1 after discussing it in another work session April 26.

Public comment will be accepted at all four meetings.

Also on the agenda Monday is Argonne Properties' request for PCD (planned community development) zoning for 110 acres on Ga. Highway 54 at Tiger Trail, the ambitious Village project that includes 203 houses plus shops, offices, a hotel and parks.

But council is unlikely to act on the plan unless a detailed development agreement has been finished by then. PCD zoning allows developers more leeway for creativity in designing developments, but the city gains more control because the details of the development agreement are binding on both current and future owners of the land in question.