Last week, John Kavanagh accused me of twisting the facts and then took a letter entitled “Flat Tax” and twisted it into one about signs!
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 affected the regulation of signs. Many cities and towns in the country updated their sign ordinances to comply with this court decision. Our former mayor and council did not deal with this and the issue has been kicked down the road until now.
In Dec. 2015, the council voted to extend the sign regulations until the end of 2018. “No A-frame sign is permitted anywhere within the Town of Fountain Hills after December 31, 2018.” In Dec. 2018, the sign ordinance was extended again, until the end of 2020. “No A-frame sign is permitted anywhere within the Town of Fountain Hills after December 31, 2020.”
Since the beginning of this year, A-frame signs were not legal.
Contrary to Mr. Kavanagh’s statements, the current council actually restored A-frame usage to make them legal again. The new sign ordinance supports the town’s business community by allowing use of A-frame signs and other temporary signs, just not in the public right of way. And, good news, businesses no longer have to remove their signs every night.
Staff reviewed ordinances from other Valley cities and met with stakeholders for their input on the ordinance. In May 2020, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the ordinance. The Council continues to work with those few businesses that do not have sufficient private property for placement of their temporary signs.
The Town is diligently working to bring us into compliance while some are twisting facts in order to satisfy their own political agendas.
