The Dunwoody City Council voted July 24 on second and final read to approve some tweaks to its sign ordinance, but are staying away from including the outright banning of “people in costumes” and limiting the number of signs during a political season.
Ronnie Kurtz, city planner, explained to the council that the city code already prohibits “animated signs” that would include people moving and waving signs, so no change to that section was necessary and there was no need to add the phrase “people in costumes.” Animated signs that are prohibited include balloons, streamers, air or gas filled figures, according to the ordinance.
During a political season, residents will still be able to put up an unlimited number of signs in their yards despite some consideration of limiting the number. Non-residential areas are limited to four standard informational signs per lot.
Some council members raised concerns about consistent code enforcement. The city’s code enforcement is complaint driven – when a resident makes a complaint, then code enforcement responds.
There are plenty of sites throughout the city where sign violations exist but no enforcement is taking place, Deutsch said.
“None of this [tweaking ordinance] matters if we don’t get enforcement handled in a meaningful way. There are sign violations on a regular basis that are not getting handled,” she said. “If we have a sign code, we need enforcement and to enforce it consistently.”
More than 430 illegal signs were picked up during the second quarter of this fiscal year (January through March), said Assistant City Manager Jessica Guinn.
The city began receiving daily complaints about signs during the 6th Congressional District campaign, Kurtz said, but none of the complaints were about residential lots.