COLUMBIANA Council: Sign rules must be enforced

The mayor said people may contact the zoning officer about illegal signs.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- Enforcement of the city's sign ordinances needs to be more consistent, council members said.
The sign ordinances regulate the size of signs and where they can be placed.
Council members said some illegal signs are removed promptly, while others are ignored.
As the council discussed the sign ordinances Tuesday, council members mentioned several places throughout the city where they know signs are in violation of the ordinances.
Mayor Lowell Schloneger said Bob Belding, city zoning inspector, is responsible for letting merchants and others know when signs are in violation.
Schloneger said it is helpful to Belding if he is told of such signs.
Some council members said people have told them about illegal signs.
Schloneger noted that people may contact Belding directly.
Ongoing discussion
Both the council and the planning commission have been discussing the sign ordinances for several weeks.
The planning commission has been working with merchants who have addressed it and the council about allowing tasteful signs along Main Street and state Route 14 to direct travelers to downtown businesses.
Councilman William Kimpel, who's family owns Kimpel's Jewelry in the Columbiana Plaza, said he'd "place a 20-by-20 foot sign with flashing lights and arrows" at the center of town to direct people to his store if he could, but he understands the need for the sign ordinances.
The Columbiana Plaza is one block west of South Main Street, the heart of the downtown business district.
Merchants want signs
Merchants in that area and on other side streets in the city have told the planning commission and the council they would like to place directional signs in the downtown area because out-of-town visitors can't find their shops or don't know they exist.
Merchants also said signs on the north side directing visitors to the downtown area would be helpful. They said many out-of-town guests of the Dutch Village Inn and Dutch Haus Restaurant on the north side may visit shops there and others in the plaza at the intersection of state Routes 14, 164 and 46, but miss antique shops and other quaint stores in the downtown.
Several merchants have told the council and the commission that they had to remove signs they had placed because they violated city ordinances.
One merchant on a side street said she averaged about 25 customers a day when she had a sandwich board sign on Main Street directing visitors to her shop. After she removed the sign, business declined to nothing, she said.