• Fayetteville's flag flap is over.

Mayor Kenneth Steele said this week that the City Council will not even consider a restriction on the number of government flags a business can fly when it votes on a new sign ordinance Monday night.

A provision that would have limited the number of government flags to two — and only one for any one government — will be stricken from the proposed ordinance before it comes up for a vote, Steele said.

“We don't care to consider that,” he said during a council work session Wednesday. Steele said a prohibition of internally lighted signs also will be taken out of the proposed document.

Several local business people had attended the work session to protest the provisions, but after the mayor's announcements said nothing when Steele asked for public comment on the proposed law. One developer, though, did speak.

Charlie Heard of Retail Planning Corp. urged the council to make only minor changes in the law, which was revised in 1998. “You did a good job with what you did two years ago,” he said.

As it stands, the law places additional restrictions on temporary event-related signs, requires that master-planned retail centers and office complexes have coordinated plans for signs, and provides a book showing suggested colors and styles for signs in the historic downtown district, among other minor changes.

Council is expected to vote during its meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

All council meetings are open to the public.

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