New message: City seeks merchant input on sign regulations

In June, McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre celebrated its one-year anniversary in its downtown Sarasota location along Ringling Boulevard.

Although Les McCurdy is still enamored with his location’s downtown home, there is one problem that’s consistently stymied him: He hasn’t been able to get approval for a sign advertising the upcoming performers at the venue.

To be fair, McCurdy clarifies, he hasn’t been pursuing the issue with the vigor that he perhaps could be. Still, it was a problem when he first moved in and was seeking a back-lit marquee sign. Now, he believes an electronic LED sign would be a better fit for the business, but it remains a problem. Either way, he would need an exception to existing regulations to post either sign on the side of his business.

The code would only allow McCurdy to change an LED sign’s message once every 24 hours. He is quick to point out that those regulations don’t apply to establishments on government property, such as the Van Wezel. For a business that’s attempting to promote multiple events in a short period of time — say, a charity fundraiser during the day and a comedy show at night — the limitation can be an issue.

“On top of that, I’ve got three or four nationally known celebrities coming up — you definitely want those names up there,” McCurdy says. “Not only for us, but that's the kind of thing that gives prominence to this property, which gives prominence to this whole downtown area.”

Perhaps luckily for McCurdy, the city is preparing to examine sign regulations in its business districts. The Urban Design Studio team, tasked with rewriting the city’s zoning rules, is working with Downtown Economic Development Coordinator Norm Gollub and other city staff to determine what might need to be changed. At the end of August, the group will hold workshops with businesses to get feedback on sign policy.

Tim Litchet, the city’s director of neighborhood and development services, says there aren’t a lot of cases of outright denial when businesses come with proposals for signs. That’s because staff works with applicants to clarify what is and isn’t allowed, which typically produces a solution that both parties can live with.

Still, he singled out one recurring issue the city might want to revisit: a restriction on placing signs anywhere but the façade of the first story of a business.

“There are a lot of times where the first floor really doesn't work for them because of the architecture of the building or something like that,” Litchet said.

At the beginning of June, the World of Beer location in the 1900 block of Main Street ran into a different problem. The city denied two proposed signs for the business, stating that neither of them were on the tenant’s property. World of Beer ownership was upset by that denial, particularly because the property in question — a connected parking garage — was used by the restaurant and owned by the same person who owns the World of Beer space.

Still, World of Beer and the city are working to reach an acceptable solution. World of Beer co-owner Mark Broderick has reapplied for signage, and despite the denial, Broderick had positive feedback for city staff.

“They've been very good,” Broderick said. “I don't have any complaints about the city.”

Gollub has been working for nearly a year on a strategy for implementing advice from retail consultant Robert Gibbs, and the August workshops will be another step in that process. Most of the advice from the expert pertained to A-frame signs and other ways to allow merchants to utilize the public right of way in a manner that benefited both businesses and visitors.

"Being able to allow merchants and storefronts to promote themselves better through signage and other means is something we're moving forward on." — Norm Gollub

Currently, the city is searching for a way to permit businesses to post A-frame signs on public property, a practice that is currently restricted despite the city’s lack of enforcement.

“Being able to allow merchants and storefronts to promote themselves better through signage and other means is something we're moving forward on,” Gollub said. “I think it's important that there be a mechanism to allow sidewalk sales to take place. We're working on that.”

Several businesses attribute the need for signs to the lack of a comprehensive wayfinding system downtown. A city-led wayfinding project has been in development for more than a decade, and multiple citizen-led initiatives have stalled out over the past five years. Gollub thinks the functionality of wayfinding and traditional signage doesn’t necessarily overlap — they’re more complementary than anything.

“Wayfinding is more directional, and then you've got the A-frame signs, which help to identify businesses and promote them,” Gollub said.

At least two downtown groups are working on producing a comprehensive directory map to help guide visitors to businesses in the heart of the city. McCurdy arrived at a similar idea, inspired by a map created by a local hotel. If done properly, he says, businesses throughout the district could just hang it up or distribute it to customers.

“I thought, ‘What the hell, let's just make one ourselves,’” McCurdy said. “Make a nice map of our own, make it into a poster. That won’t be expensive at all.”

In his eyes, there are a lot of simple solutions to the sign issues facing downtown Sarasota. Despite the best intentions of city staff, he thinks existing regulations often get in the way.

“They make a mountain out of a molehill sometimes,” McCurdy said.