County Commissioners Vote Concerning Possible Zoning Rules

During Thursday night’s Gilmer County Commissioners’ meeting, Post Commissioner Danny Hall placed on the agenda, for discussion, the county sign ordinance. Hall said he has recently received several phone calls from citizens who are upset with several signs that have been put up in clusters.
DISCUSSION
4. Sign Ordinance. (DH)

After Hall explained the reason for the discussion, Brian Jones, head of Gilmer county planning and zoning department, explained the county sign ordinance. Jones said the problem was that the ordinance exempts signs 32 square feet (4’x8’) and under. The ordinance does not have a limit on how many 4’x8’ signs one can put on their property. Because the signs are exempt they can be placed on any property regardless of how the property is zoned.
Post Commissioner Will Beattie was not in attendance. Commission Chair J.C. Sanford expressed to Hall that he was very torn on this matter. He was not comfortable with telling people what they could do with their private property. He also expressed that if people could sell some advertising and it helped them pay some bills that wasn’t a bad thing. However he went on to say he was worried the county could get cluttered with signs.
After discussion Hall appeared determined that something needed done about all the signs going up in the county. He asked county attorney, David Clark, if they could vote on a sign moratorium that night. Clark responded that it was only a discussion item and they could not take action on anything in that meeting. Jones said there was nothing he could do unless the Commissioners gave him different directions. After hearing Jones’ comments Hall asked for an emergency meeting in order to place a moratorium on signs. Clark told the commissioners the earliest they could have a legally called meeting would be Monday. So an emergency meeting was set for Monday at 10 A.M.

GILMER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
SPECIAL CALLED BOARD MEETING
ANNOUNCEMENT
MONDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2012
TIME: 10:00 A.M.
LOCATION: Board of Commissioners Conference Room
1. Action on Resolution #12-014, Moratorium on sign permits as allowed in the Gilmer County Code of Ordinances, Article II Section 6-31 through 6-51. (JC)

When this special (emergency) meeting opened Beattie expressed his apoligies for not being able to attend Thursday’s meeting but asked what exactly happened that called for a special meeting on this matter. Sanford brought Beattie up to speed on the reason for the meeting. Beattie said we have received several calls in the past about the signs so who called that caused us to have a special meeting. He continued saying, “I am a little concerned about putting a moratorium in place that involves citizen’s private property rights.” Sanford agreed and expressed once again as he did Thursday that he was torn on the issue. He said selling advertising signs was a good way for some people to make money and at this time it was hard to tell someone they could not do something to make money. Sanford again expressed he does not want to see the county cluttered with signs. He said over a period of time, if not taken care of properly, the county could end up with a lot of dilapidated signs.
Hall stayed consistent with his views from Thursday night insisting the need for a sign moratorium. He felt they had looked at the side of the property owners and now they should consider the side of the people that have to look at the signs from their front doors. How does it make the county look with these signs going up everywhere, Hall asked. People wouldn’t want them on their road. He asked Beattie how he would like it if signs were going up on Gates Chapel Road. FYN asked if they had considered the side of advertisers who are buying the sign space. Is it helping their local business?
After a long discussion between the commissioners they began to craft a sign moratorium with county attorney David Clark. Beattie asked if we put a moratorium in place does that include all 4’x8’ signs? What if someone wants to put a sign up for their business? Clark let them know it would include all signs. The commissioners crafted a sign moratorium that would not affect businesses to advertise at their location.
The commissioners voted unanimously for the sign moratorium. This moratorium will not affect the signs currently in place through out the county or stop people from putting up signs they already permitted.
The commissioners agreed that by putting the moratorium in place they need to complete a new sign ordinance as soon as possible. The moratorium has a 60 day limit.