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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Wilmington, Business Owners to Talk Signage

The City of Wilmington is holding a second meeting Thursday night to gather input from business owners regarding window sign regulations.

WHQR’s Sara Wood reports that about 100 people attended the last meeting.

Back in 2008, the City changed its sign ordinance so that temporary signage, like flyers or posters on interior windows, is included in the 10 percent window coverage that businesses are allotted.

The change wasn’t enforced until last summer and City Council suspended enforcement within just a few months as business owners starting speaking up, including Front Street Brewery Owner Tom Harris.

“Windows are an incredibly important vehicle for small businesses and even large businesses because of you drive around and look at the large supermarkets, drug store chains, convenience stores, and national fast food chains, you’ll see that they typically use much more than 10 percent of their window space to promote their specials and products.”

City Associate Planner Brian Chambers says Wilmington has researched a list of benchmark cities to see what other communities are doing.

“Looking at the research we did compile, there’s only a couple of communities that do it similar to what the City of Wilmington does, which is the 10 percent rule. The majority of the cities we looked at did have a larger percentage that was allowed to be covered by signage. ”

Chambers says Wilmington is hosting another public meeting next month to present draft amendments to the land development code based on the input gathered at this week's meeting.

After growing up in Woodbridge, Virginia, Michelle attended Virginia Tech before moving to Wilmington to complete her Master in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. Her reporting and nonfiction writing have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, within the pages of Wrightsville Beach Magazine, and in literary journals like River Teeth and Ninth Letter. Before moving to Wilmington, Michelle served as the general manager for WUVT, a community radio station in Blacksburg, Virginia. She lives with her husband Scott and their pups, Katie, Cooper, and Mosey.