Cape council to vote on contested sign laws tonight

Blue yard signs celebrating Lutheran schools and A-frame signs previewing college summer plays have one thing in common: Under Cape Girardeau's new sign ordinance, both signs would be illegal.

This could create some unlikely outlaws.

For years, Perrey Lee has used the section of Capaha Park at the corner of Broadway and Perry Ave. to advertise Southeast Missouri State University's theater and dance productions. If the ordinance passes, neither the colorful signs she uses, nor the location within city right of way would be permissible.

"I think that's going to put a major dent in our ticket sales," said Lee, marketing and operations manager for the arts department. "Right now we don't have any other advertising up for 'Romeo and Juliet,' but I put the signs up last week and I've been busy all this week selling tickets. We really depend on those signs ... the times we haven't used them, there has been a big drop in attendance."

Cindy Gage, a local parent, might equally find herself on the wrong side of the law. She recently helped distribute yard signs for Trinity Lutheran Schools in conjunction with national Lutheran Schools Week. Dozens of the signs line the city right of way and grass hill outside Trinity Early Learning Center on Pacific Street.

But the new sign ordinance allows only one of these signs per property and dictates that it must be out of the public right of way -- typically 10 feet back from the curb.

Gage feels that with this provision, the city has overstepped its bounds.

"I think anything that limits the way a person can do whatever he or she deems fit with his or her own property -- as long as it's not offensive -- is a violation of free speech," said Gage. "I think that people understand what's offensive and what's not offensive. I don't think anyone in their wildest dreams would call these signs offensive."

Mayor Jay Knudtson said while there will be growing pains, the new ordinance is needed to clean up the city. "This city council is making a clear statement and unfortunately there are a lot of violators out there," he said. "So this is going to be painful for people, but the number of these signs even for noble causes is disgusting."

He added that most of these rules have been on the books for years. The Cape Girardeau city council will vote on the ordinance for the second time tonight after unanimously approving it at the March 20 meeting.

But provisions in the ordinance like the one restricting garage sale signs to "one on-premise sign," to be kept up "only during the actual time of the sale," have residents scratching their heads.

"It seems like kind of an irrelevant thing to make such a big deal out of," said Barbara Farar, who held a garage sale this weekend. Farar said signs are "definitely needed" to attract neighbors and passing motorists to the sale.

Directional signs have become a common advertising practice in Cape Girardeau. For example, the Southeast Missourian offers a "garage sale packet" to customers advertising sales in the newspaper. The packet includes two neon-yellow cardboard signs with arrows. Typically, people post these signs on trees or utility poles in the neighborhood. This activity would be illegal under the new ordinance, unless the signs are kept exclusively on private property.

Real estate

Real estate companies are the lone exception to directional and banner sign restrictions. They are allowed to post four directional signs leading motorists to an open house. The signs can be put up a maximum of 48 hours before the event and a banner sign may be erected the day of the event.

But even with the special treatment, the ordinance has succeeded in turning them into unhappy customers.

Ken Inman of Century 21 protested restrictions at two city council meetings, but despite verbal assurance from city council members, the sign ordinance still dictates that directional signs "shall be placed on private property."

That provision negates the benefit of such signs, which are typically placed near curbs at intersections in order to catch the eyes of motorists.

"If they keep that in there, they're going to have a battle on their hands with the real estate industry in this town," said Inman. "What they're doing is cutting their nose off to spite their face ... Real estate agents are going to have open houses where they can have them, so if a city hinders them, then naturally they'll move them to where they can hold them."

Enforcement

A summary of all the sign violations in Cape Girardeau would take hundreds of pages: Gas stations restricted to only one temporary sign have dozens of them sticking in the grass, churches and banks boast the strictly prohibited banner signs flapping from stakes and wheeled temporary signs sit in front of restaurants flashing lights in brazen violation.

A quick drive down Kingshighway is all that's needed to see the scope of the problem, say sign ordinance supporters.

But to what extent is the city prepared to enforce its new ordinance?

"We're going to take these things on a case-by-case basis," said city planner Kent Bratton, who added that violators would "receive a phone call," not a fine.

Knudtson said the city has sent letters to more than 200 businesses alerting them of changes. He said enforcement will not be sudden and there will always be exceptions.

"To say that the minute this goes into effect that we're going to have policemen going around and tearing up banners is an inaccurate statement," he said. "But as time goes on, we're going to expect some level of compliance with the ordinance."

One thing nobody wants is enforcing the ordinance to distract police officers from more important matters.

"Once the ordinance passes, most of the enforcement will fall to the police department," said police chief Carl Kennison. "Likely, most of that will fall to the nuisance and abatement officers and this is already a very busy time for them ... So for the first six months, we'll pretty much be concentrating on educating and informing the public."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245