What you should know about sign codes before you purchase land.

In recent months there has been an emerging trend in city sign codes that is alarming. As the pendulum continues to swing away from reason thought sign codes get more invasive. In many municipalities it is now possible to option or purchase land only to discover that you are not allowed adequate signage to operate a business.

Recently I met with an owner who had purchased the land, planned the project, and with a great deal of effort and expense had been approved for a car wash project. As I read the sign code I explained that we needed to go to the city in order to clarify a few questions that the language of the code raised.

For example. The code stated that no sign could be placed on a building except over a customer entrance. The planned sign project showed signs over the entrance and exit of the car wash tunnel which ran parallel to the traffic flow. When we reached the appropriate city official and raised the question we were asked the following. "Will customers be riding in the car as the car passes through the was tunnel"? "Yes"! "Then you will be allowed to place a sign over the tunnel entrance but not the exit." The customer had wrongly assumed that the exit would also be considered an entrance. The only way to remedy this was to put a customer entrance door on the exit end of the tunnel. This means that the sign code now impacts the architectural planning.

This entrance issue was very unexceptable in light of another problem in the same code. On the street where this planned wash was to be located there were no curb cuts to allow entrance to the wash facility. The entrance was to be located one block off the main street and 1 block off the side street, off the main street, that dead ended at the wash property. According to the codes, there could be no sign on a street where there was no curb cut. Translation: No sign on the street for this wash unless it was located down the dead end street and behind the car wash. The result: This wash could have one building sign facing 50% of the traffic flow. The architect had shown signs on the building when the plans were approved that the owner assumed the city would allow. This was not the case.

At another planned facility in the same state, a small paragraph, at the bottom of the code, stated that the signs as represented in the proposal for any new building would be binding. Many Architects simply place signs on renderings to represent what might be placed on the building. As a rule cities never approve signs when they approve a building plan but according to this language the owner was bound to this simple representation without any forethought as to the appropriateness, at this sight, of these represented signs.

It has been the habit of most to find a great piece of land with great demographics and get busy with options, purchases, plans, approvals, and bidding contractors without a lot of thought about the sign codes. In this very competitive time, in our industry, while cities continue to be more restrictive, one can no longer take this course of action. If an owner believes signage is a necessary part of the business equation, he must first consider if he will even be allowed to have signs on this property and if he can have the correct signs needed to accomplish all the dreams set forth in his business plan to his potential banker.
It is necessary to be thorough and give your car wash the maximum opportunity to succeed. Wise car wash investors must check these codes before placing options or purchasing land for such a project.

You should not rely on your own judgment of the language of the code, what the city employee tells you, or even what an attorney unfamiliar with sign issues might tell you about codes. You should get an opinion from someone in the sign industry who is competent to interpret or at least raise the questions that may be hidden in you code.

Cities usually have the attitude that poor planning on the business owners part is not an acceptable hardship for a variance so owners must be vigilant to be informed on the sign restrictions they may face.

Perry Powell is a sign consultant to the Car Wash Industry.
He can be reached by:Telephone: 817-307-6484

Email Perry