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| Shopping center sign changes to be regulated By JOHN MUNFORD The Fayetteville City Council has tweaked the city’s sign ordinance, adopting housekeeping changes at its meeting last week. The changes are designed to make the ordinance easier to understand and enforce, said Jahnee Prince, the city’s director of planning and zoning. One of the most significant changes is a requirement for shopping center signs that have panels identifying their stores. Now, whenever a panel is changed, that sign must be approved by the city, Prince said. The city has faced several situations this past year where shopping center panel signs have come into question as a new business moves in. Another change to the ordinance allows homeowners associations to use signage with certain size restrictions, Prince said. The city also added a section to the ordinance to address signs at office buildings and a definition of menu signs for restaurants who have drive-through windows. The ordinance changes were approved unanimously by the council. In other business, the council also approved a measure to have development plans expire one year after they are approved. Previously, developers had two years to act on their development plans before they expired. The new measure coincides with the newly adopted expiration date for special exceptions. Previously, once a special exception was approved it had no expiration date, which could cause problems for property owners adjacent to the site receiving the special exception. Sometimes, those special exceptions would exclude certain uses for the adjoining property.
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