A public comment meeting Tuesday concerning proposed city ordinances yielded some good comments, city staff said.
City Attorney Andrea Springer said she may schedule another hearing on the night the ordinances are presented to passage by the city commission, expected to be sometime in February.
Assistant City Planner Whitney Box said there were a number of good comments made during the meeting that probably will be included in the final ordinance.
For example, the proposed ordinance setting distance standards for real estate signs calls for one sign per frontage, but Brad Waken suggested that for large properties, with as much as a half-mile frontage, more than one sign should be allowed.
Other comments would allow A-frame signs, which are prohibited everywhere except in the downtown area, for shopping centers. The ordinance also calls for no visible wiring from the business to the sign — all wiring must be underground.
Auto dealer Leonard Northcutt questioned parts of the ordinance dealing with time allotted to repair damaged signs. He told the group signs at his business are leased and cannot be purchased. The ordinance calls for repair of damaged signs within 30 days, and Northcutt said a recent damaged sign took more than 90 days to repair because the company did not come.
Box said as long as a business owner showed attempts to have the sign repaired, the city would not be critical of the effort.
A comment by Enid developer Bob Berry indicated the calculations for determining sign space might be difficult.
“These calculations are pretty extreme,” Berry said.
He suggested the city do a simple calculation for signs at each business.
“It’s hard to recruit national businesses, and we should be sensitive to that. There must be common sense applied to it,” Berry said.
The sign ordinance, as proposed, would affect new signs or current businesses wanting a new sign permit. It is designed to enhance the visual attractiveness for residents and visitors, as well as for commercial establishments.
The proposed ordinance added some definitions and amended others. A fee for permits and inspections of signs is set at $35 for a sign one foot to 100 square feet. For signs of 101 to 200 square feet, the fee is $50. For signs 201 square feet or more, the cost is $65.
The owner of a sign will have 30 days to bring maintenance of the sign into compliance, and unsafe signs must be repaired within 10 days.
Joe Bill Kline agreed with Northcutt and Berry’s recommendations concerning the amount of time an electrical sign requires before changing messages.
The proposed ordinance sets it a five seconds, but Northcutt suggested that time is too long, and suggested two seconds for time and temperature, which Kline said is the national standard is two seconds.
Kline also told the staff electrical message centers are designed for animation and other images. The proposed ordinance prohibits such images, and Kline disagreed.
“If someone pays $50,000 for a sign and it is only allowed to 10 percent of its capability, why buy the sign?” he asked. “I think you should give some consideration to the businesses involved.”
Comments also were heard on the proposed parking ordinance changes.
The current ordinance states parking spaces must be 180 square feet, and the proposed ordinance would allow them to be larger, but does not require it among other changes.
Berry was the only person who spoke on the parking ordinance. He said the definition of a five-minute walk as a quarter-mile depends on who is walking and when.
“You are not going to walk from the north side of the square to the event center in August, and you aren’t going to do it in February,” Berry said. He also questioned the definition of the size of a parking space, saying with trends toward compact cars and the number of them, increasing the size may use unneeded space.
Berry said Walmart parking is a fraction of the distance proposed in the ordinance, and he thinks the definition will harm the future event center.
“A five-minute walk also presupposes an adequate sidewalk to the event center,” he said. “There are alleys and driveways that people will use, and the city could face ADA issues. This is all happening because there is no parking at the event center.”
Berry said the event center will require 1,000 parking spaces, while Convention Hall will need 600 spaces and David Allen Memorial Ballpark will need 190 spaces.
“You don’t have it, and it’s a doomed project,” Berry said.