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Signs of the times: Bigger boards in PTC

By CAL BEVERLY
editor@TheCitizenNews.com

Peachtree City Councilman Steve Rapson calls a new ordinance passed over his objection a “character-changing thing for the city ... a lifestyle issue.”

Councilman Murray Weed says “better safe than sorry” and voted with the 3-to-2 majority to allow bigger noncommercial signs in a city known for its restrictive sign ordinance.

The change last Thursday night means private, noncommercial signs in the city now can increase from the current limit of four square feet to the new limit of 16 square feet.

That means you can go now from a two-by-two-foot sign up to a four-by-four-foot sign in your yard, or about the size of a half sheet of construction plywood.

In addition, all residents can display an unlimited number of political signs on their private property during election season.

The liberalization of the city sign rules comes after recent court rulings overturning government size limits on signage with noncommercial or political messages.

“What’s on the [city’s] books now looks very susceptible to legal challenge,” City Attorney Ted Meeker told the council June 2.

Meeker said the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta just last week threw out a Florida’s city’s entire sign ordinance because it regulated signs based on their content and failed to provide any time limits for deciding on sign permits.

Meeker said many sign ordinances permit larger commercial signs than are allowed for private, noncommercial expressions and that courts recently have been signaling their dislike of such disparity.

The attorney said he thought the city could safely prohibit noncommercial signs larger than 16 square feet, a little more than half the size permitted for a commercial subdivision entrance sign.

“The closer we get to a one-to-one [ratio], the better off we are,” Weed said.

“Why not wait until we are challenged,” resident Phyllis Aguayo asked.

It’s better for the city to be “proactive” rather than to wait for a legal challenge and face having the whole sign ordinance ruled unconstitutional, Weed said.

Meeker warned that courts were more often tossing out entire sign ordinances, not just the parts they disliked.

Should that happen to Peachtree City, Meeker said, “We could wake up with five billboards” in the absence of a viable sign ordinance.

Mayor Steve Brown said the issue boiled down to what was defensible in court.

“This is a unique city,” Rapson said, “and 35,700 [residents] will be asking us why” the city is allowing larger signs than in the past, particularly on private property.

Rapson and Stuart Kourajian voted against increasing sign sizes. Weed, Brown and Judi-ann Rutherford voted for the change.

Up the road in Fayetteville, the Fayette County Commission is awaiting further word from a superior court judge on the fate of the county’s sign ordinance.

At issue is the county limit of one political sign per address, a restriction that was challenged after several citations were issued last fall for multiple signs at one address during the run-up to the November election.

The Georgia Court of Appeals sent that case back and instructed the judge to look for the least restrictive means of regulating political expression. No decision has been announced yet, but the county’s entire sign ordinance may be in jeopardy.

“In the Fayette County case, the county got blind-sided,” Meeker told the council last week. “The 11th Circuit is even more liberal” in its ruling against a north Florida city.

Otherwise affected by the Peachtree City changes are business window signs, real estate signs on roadways, and signs in multi-tenant office buildings.