THOMASVILLE — Thomasville sign ordinance conversations are gearing up after dissipating several years ago among heated talks and tempers.

City Council member David Hufstetler, who was not on the council at the time, said his first concern about a sign ordinance is whether the current ordinance was voted on by a previous council.

The subject was broached at a recent city council workshop, when Hufstetler said a sign ordinance “makes sense for everybody.”

City Manager Alan Carson, who has been in the position for a year, said he postponed sign ordinance talks in 2019 because he did not want to address the subject before last year’s city council election.

“Things I’ve read led me to believe it was a very hot topic here,” Carson said. 

The same was true in Lexington, North Carolina, where Carson was longtime city manager before coming to Thomasville. He did not want the subject to enter the election process.

“I wanted it to stand on its own,” Carson said.

The atmosphere is different now, Hufstetler said.

“Some things have changed,” he said. “I think everybody’s ready for a reasonable, enforceable, common-sense ordinance.” 

Mayor Greg Hobbs said the Marriott Courtyard under construction will need a sign. Hotel officials hope to open in the fall, the mayor added.

Some preliminary sign ordinance work has been done, Carson said at the workshop.

Since the workshop, Hufstetler recalled that around 2015, the former council attempted to redraft the existing sign ordinance because of legal action taken against the city.

“As I recall, it was very controversial, but in the end between the planning and zoning board and a citizen committee, they derived an acceptable ordinance for all involved,” he said. “Again, as I recall, that required several weeks of work on the part of both planning and zoning and the citizen committee.”

The draft was submitted for minor editing, such as grammar and punctuation, Hufstetler said.

“When the so-called finished version came back from then-City Manager (Steve) Sykes, it had been changed from what was submitted as an acceptable ordinance by both planning and zoning and the citizens committee and would’ve probably been approved by the then sitting council,” Hufstetler added. “That act in effect voided all the hard work that had been previously been done by planning and zoning and the citizens committee charged with resolving the sign ordinance problem.”

Hufstetler said any sign ordinance issues can be resolved with a little hard work by planning and zoning working with city planner Kenny Thompson and a committee made up of a couple of businesses that make signs, a downtown merchant or two, someone involved with the city’s historic districts and several retailers from areas such as East or West Jackson streets, Smith and Remington avenues and U.S. 19, who would be affected. 

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820