By Cheryl Splain, KnoxPages.com Reporter
MOUNT VERNON — City officials now have a mechanism to enforce removal of signs that have been declared nonconforming and abandoned.
Council gave a first reading to an ordinance on Monday amending the city’s codified ordinances relating to section 1175.10, nonconforming signs. The changes include giving the property maintenance enforcement officer and the zoning enforcement officer the authority to declare a sign nonconforming or abandoned rather than giving the authority to the Board of Zoning Appeals. The BZA will now serve as the appellate body.
New language added provides for written notification to the property owner when a sign is determined to be abandoned. The owner must remove the sign within 30 days or file an appeal with the BZA within 20 days. If the property owner does not remove the sign after BZA’s ruling, the city will remove the sign and bill the property owner. If payment is not made, the costs will be put as a lien against the property and collected with the property taxes.
“The city has three signs that have been declared abandoned, but there’s nothing directing further action,” said Property Maintenance Enforcement Officer Joel Daniels. “There are a number of others that need to be removed that are nonconforming signs.”
City Law Director Rob Broeren said that after removal, the signs will still belong to the property owner. If the city removes a sign, it will probably be taken to the city’s impound lot. A procedure similar to the city’s policy on towed vehicles will be created delineating the process to be followed such as notification to the property owner, payment of removal fees and final disposal of the sign should the owner not collect it.
No one spoke against the changes in a public hearing held prior to the legislative session; resident Bill McCrory spoke in support. Councilwoman Nancy Vail, chairwoman of the Planning and Zoning Committee, requested legislation be drawn up and added to council’s Monday agenda. She made the request so that the legislation could receive the required three readings prior to June, when council goes into its summer schedule of meeting only once a month.
