Fayette County updated its judicially-challenged sign ordinance last week, despite the efforts of one county commissioner to challenge it.

Commissioner Herb Frady advised the board the revised ordinance should be tabled, because of a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Camp that placed a temporary restraining order against enforcing it until after the recent municipal election.

But the other commissioners didn’t agree with Frady.

“Our sign ordinance has been held to be constitutional by Judge English,” said Commission Chairman Greg Dunn.

Dunn emphasized that Camp’s ruling affected only one narrow part of the ordinance, and it was time for the County Commission to move ahead with the revisions. The chairman did add that the county was working towards getting a final ruling from all the judges in the 11th Circuit concerning the ordinance.

Planning Director Pete Frisina said the ordinance had not had a substantial review since 1998 and complimented the staff on the rewrite.

“It’s now much easier to understand,” he said.

The revised ordinance delineates between signs placed in residential and non-residential zoning districts. In residential areas, citizens are now allowed three signs, with one of the signs allowed to be permanent. The size of the signs cannot exceed six square feet and may not be over four feet in height.

In non-residential areas, a parcel can have one freestanding sign that cannot exceed six feet in height, 10 feet in width and 50 square feet in area. The ordinance also allows two temporary signs for a single business and four temporary signs for parcels with multiple businesses.

Another revision the original ordinance had overlooked was the issue of flagpoles at homes.

“You can now have a flagpole at home,” Dunn said.

The flagpole cannot exceed 35 feet in height and the hoist side of the flag cannot be more than 50 percent of the height of the flagpole.

Dunn was happy with the revisions.

“Judge English ruled we had the right to promote safety and aesthetics in the ordinance, as long as we didn’t violate people’s right to free speech. This revision liberalizes the sign ordinance,” he said.

The revisions passed 3-1, with Frady casting the dissenting vote.

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