Inflatable Signs Closer To Becoming Legal in Woodstock

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The Woodstock City Council on Monday took the first step in amending its sign ordinance to accommodate those ever-popular inflatable signs.

The council approved the first reading of the change to a section addressing signs allowed without permits. The changes now includes inflatable devices, which will be allowed within specific zoning districts in the city.

Some of those districts include general commercial, light industrial and neighborhood commercial.

These signs would not be allowed year-round, however. City staff is proposing that the signs would only allowed to go up from Nov. 1 to Jan. 1 of any calendar year.

The issue of inflatable signs came to a head in December 2014 when Reliable Heating and Air was told it could not blow up inflatable signs advertising its Toys for Tots initiative, as the city’s ordinance did not allow them at the time.

A compromised was reached when Reliable relocated the signs to property adjacent to location on Highway 92 that sits in unincorporated Cherokee County.

City staff also stipulates the signs would also have to be anchored to the ground or building. The second and final reading will be held at the Council’s Dec. 14 meeting.

Council members also unanimously approved an appeal from Woodstock Quality Paint and Body, whose business was denied a building permit to construct a metal structure on property located at 9285 Main Street.

The Community Development Department stated it denied the permit because the structure did not meet downtown architectural standards, and that the construction of a conforming building would constitute enlargement of a non-conforming use.

Non-conforming uses are businesses that exist before any zoning changes go into effect. Woodstock Quality Paint and Body has been at that location for over 30 years, and the city’s zoning changes for the downtown district went into effect in 2005.

City code stipulates non-conforming uses must be restricted to the area occupied by such use at the time the change went into effect.

Owner Phillip Harris said he constructed the shelter to protect the cars he’s tasked with repairing from the natural, weather-related elements. He stated the steel structure and the roof only occupies three former parking spaces, and is not an eyesore to the average resident.

Councilman Chris Casdia, whose district includes the business, expressed support of Harris’s structure.

“This use outweighs any negative associated with being nonconforming,” he added.

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Image via Shutterstock