JOURNAL NEWS
TreesGreenville Holiday Cards
Mauldin sign ordinance approved
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The 2013 Holiday Tree Greeting Card features Winter at Max Patch, photograph © Bill Robertson, 2009. www.brphoto.net.
16 THE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 29, 2013
SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF
The culmination of a year’s work received final approval when Mauldin City Council approved a “significant comprehensive revision” of the city’s sign ordinance last week. The last comprehensive update to the city’s sign ordinance was in 1999. The goal of the new ordinance is to provide additional clarity to existing standards while making the new ordinance more “user-friendly” with added definitions. According to a report from Kim Hammel, business and development services director, city staff conducted extensive research of other municipal codes, coordinated with code enforcement staff to address enforcement and interpretation concerns, and did field work to evaluate existing signage in the city and assemble photos of existing signage to illustrate signage concepts. After a first reading of the new or-
dinance in October raised several questions about enforcement and fees and A-frame signs, Mauldin city staff worked with the public and local business owners to provide additional clarification. In the new ordinance, a written warning will first be given for anyone not in compliance. If the violation has not been corrected within the given time frame, a formal written citation will be served with a penalty fee and a date to appear in Mauldin Municipal Court. For abandoned signs, language was changed to increase the time frame to 180 days before those signs need to come down, which is consistent with the “Change of Use” zoning requirement for site compliance. The new ordinance will also allow an A-frame sign to be classified as an incidental sign if it meets specific size, location and design standards. Other language in the ordinance addressed window signage and temporary advertising sign fees.