Marion Seventh Avenue Could Get New Look

Large, tall and bright signs made sense when Seventh Avenue was a swift moving highway, but now that it's a slower-paced avenue, the look is unnecessary and ugly, some say.

The city of Marion is considering changing the look along Seventh Avenue with new rules that would ban certain types of signs. A new sign ordinance is part of an update in the zoning code ordinance Marion City Council will vote on Thursday.

"It's crappy and cluttered. There is no rhyme or reason to it," Kay Lammers, a 16-year member of the City Council, said of the signs on Seventh Avenue. "My view is to make it more consistant, to clean it up."

As Lammers puts it, the ordinance will help address the "visual clutter" that currently exists.

Assistant Planning Director Dave Hockett said the city’s planning department has been working on the update since it hired a consultant last year. The city wants businesses to look at "higher-quality signs," Hockett said.

“Ultimately, we’re trying to improve the aesthetics of the community,” Hockett said. “Signage has always been a concern of ours.”

In the ordinance, new box signs, described as large backlit signs affixed to a building, and pole signs, which are large signs erected high in the air by a pole, would be outlawed.

“We’re eliminating pole signs, trying to get more monument style, a more attractive style,” he said. “In regards to wall signs, we would be prohibiting box signs. We want to go towards channel letters.”

Channel letters are the individual-lettered signs, used by companies like .

“It used to be that Seventh Avenue was more vehicle oriented when it was State Highway 151,” Hockett said. “But we have the Corridor now and you don’t need that 35-foot-high pole sign, so we’re trying to put it down to today’s needs.”

The council tabled the go-ahead vote at its Oct. 20 public hearing when two local owners of sign businesses voiced their concerns.

Jeff Harding, an owner of MediaQuest Signs, and Nesper Signs President Phil Garland, each spoke to the council during the hearing.

Harding said it’s not a good time for banning the pole and box style signs that are less-expensive options for Marion business owners.

Harding said owners of the existing box and pole signs will eventually have to buy the newer conforming signs or “fix their own” older signs as they begin to wear out, to avoid buying the newer, approved signs. Harding added that by taking away options for customers, it could drive off potential new business owners.

“Can you regulate aesthetics and is it really good for the community?” he said. “I think they’re being short-sighted on the types of businesses they want to attract or only businesses that have the dollars to pay for that type of sign.”