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Title: Neon lights shine on erratic code enforcement
Post by: rjluna2 on July 06, 2019, 02:47:52 PM
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Cobb Neighbor, Thursday, June 23, 2011, page 3A

Neon light shine on erratic code enforcement

Historic board rejects tattoo parlor owner’s request for neon sign while other storefronts light up city

By Jon Gillooly

The City of Marietta struggles to consistently enforce its own rules, whether the subject is signs, balloons, grass or liquor.

The latest example is the case of Philip Duke, owner of Lucky Draw Tattoo & Gallery off Atlanta Street by Johnnie MacCraken’s Celtic Pub, who requested permission to put a neon sign in one of the windows of his building, a request the city’s Historic Board of Review turned down at its May 16 meeting.

HBR member Tom Samples said the request was rejected because city staff told board members that neon signs are not allowed.  But that led Samples to wonder why such signs appeared everywhere else in the city.

The problem, according to City Manager Bill Bruton, is that the city’s code enforcement hasn’t been correctly interpreting the code, which was last amended in 2003.

Bruton said that a few months ago, a business owner placed a “reader board,” an electronic scrolling sign, in the window of her business.  Such a device is prohibited unless it’s a foot back from the inside of the window, Bruton said.  When this was brought to her attention, she pointed out the other lighted signs hanging in the windows of businesses across the city, whether it’s the glowing Georgia Peach logo for the Georgia lottery or an illuminated beer can advertising a particular brand of beer, or a neon sign simply spelling the word “Open.”

Her complaints led city code enforcement to re-examine the ordinance.  Bruton said the ordinance states that signs on the exterior of a building or window are all regulated and require a permit from the city.  Signs on the inside of a window do not require a permit.  However, window signs may not cover more than 50 percent of the window space.  Bruton said that’s just matter of common sense, since a business owner is safer if people outside can see what’s going on inside a shop.

But, while neon, a type of gas, is forbidden, other kinds of lighted signs are allowed, Bruton said.

“Somebody can use any of the other technologies or gases that look exactly like what a neon sign is, and it’s perfectly legal,” Bruton said.  “Somebody can use incandescent, LED or other type of gas.  Any of those things that may look exactly like a neon sign.”

Because of its inconsistency, he is bringing the matter before the City Council at its Judicial/Legislative Committee meeting at the end of the month.

Bruton said code enforcement has never enforced lighted window inside windows because up until business owner complained, they didn’t think they had the authority to do so.

“The issue that we’ve got is … whether signs can be lit on the interior of the building by neon or some other type of lighting source, and that needs to be cleared up because there are other lighting sources out there that looks exactly light neon, and more are being invented all the time,” Bruton said.  “We need to get away from the actual method of lighting the signs and focus on whether the appearance of the sign is appropriate or not.”

Mayor Steve Tumlin said that while he doesn’t have an objection to neon signs, the code should be either consistent or changed.

Councilman Anthony Coleman, whose war represents the Square, agreed.

“It seems like it needs to be revised,” Coleman said.

Tumlin said the sign matter reminded him of the case of Bernadette McKeon, who opened the Ballons by Bernadette shop more than 30 years ago.  McKeon recently came before the council to say that a code enforcement officer wrote her a warning citation for having balloons attached to the porch of her business on Allgood Road near Cobb Parkway.  McKeon said she found that surprising, given how long she’s been in business, catering to everything from birthday parties to car dealerships.

Council subsequently amended its code and lifted the city’s balloon ban.

Then there is the case of developer Mark Kirk, who asked the council on June 6 for relief from the city’s ordinance regarding a grass height of no higher than 12 inches.  Although Kirk was headed to Municipal Court that very week for violating the ordinance on his development off Whitlock Avenue, City Solicitor Robert Donovan agreed to postpone the hearing until council reexamined that ordinance at its June 29 committee meeting.

Another example occurred last summer when C. W. Edwards, a landlord to a business called Elite Package Store, located on Delk Road near Interstate 75, complained to Councilman Philip Goldstein that although the business was annexed into the city from the county in 1993, and at the time of annexation the business has offered drive-through window service, the business owner suddenly received a letter from city stating that he was in violation since Marietta’s code banning drive-in service at package stores for liquor has been in force since 1978.

As for Philip Duke’s tattoo shop, HBR member Tom Browning said he felt bad about denying the requested sign, now that he’s learned that the city hasn’t enforced such indoor signs with anyone else for years.

Larry Wills of Marietta, an avid City Hall watcher, attributes the multiple problems to a failure of leadership.

“I just think there’s no real management, no real leadership in the city of Marietta,” Willis said.  “Bruton doesn’t really manage.  He’s not a hand-on manager.  He always seems surprised every time something happens, and it’s never his fault.  There’s ‘no buck stops here’ in Marietta City government.”

Wills cited the recent case of the City Council being surprised to learn that First Landmark Bank had built a bank teller tube under a city street without council’s knowledge or permission.

“If you don’t have good management at the time, it’s going to ripple all the way down the line,” Wills said.  “I think the employees are just pretty much open to do what they want to do in terms of general guidelines, and if they get in trouble, they’re on their own.  They just seem to operate by trial and error.”