Norman Pace testifies against sign ordinance amendment

PUBLIC TESTIMONY: December 18, 2002

Norman Pace testifies against proposed amendment to Sign Ordinance

Norman Pace, Land Use Chairman for McANA, spoke in opposition to changes to Indianapolis' Sign Ordinance which had been proposed by a City-County Resolution sponsored by Councilor Steve Talley. Following is the text of Mr. Pace's comments delivered to the Metropolitan Development Commission: (after hearing testimony, the Commission voted 5 to 3 in favor of amending the Ordinance)

Good afternoon Chairman Snyder & Members of the Commission,

I am here on behalf of McANA as the Land Use Chairman. We are asking that you vote “NO” on Resolution No. 570 for the following reasons:

1 -- With all due respect to the City Council, this resolution is in support of a “Special Interest” group, which will result in additional proliferation of signage within our city. In addition it opens up a “Pandora Box” for other “Special Interest” groups to come before the City Council and/or this Commission, asking for special exceptions. We have city ordinances already in place, plus other avenues to allow for special needs; such as, permits and variances, for which anyone can apply. The proposed resolution will still have loop holes. Paragraph (Z) (4) provides opportunities for numerous different signs advertising different events.

2 -- The reason for the pursuit of this action is the result of Code Enforcement by our City Inspectors. On page 27 of the Peterson Plan “Building a World-Class City Neighborhood by Neighborhood” under the Chapter of Enforcing City Codes for Better Neighborhoods, it says, “To ensure that the city meets the needs of its citizens, I will improve city services with effective code enforcement and prompt follow-through.” Neighborhood organizations support code enforcement. The City Inspectors are trying to do their jobs and the rug is being pulled out from under them. They have been unjustly taken a beating lately by an article in the Indianapolis Star and a ruling by a court and now this resolution. I am here to take a stand on behalf of DMD [Department of Metropolitan Development - editor's note] and our City Inspectors. They are doing their job and it is a gross injustice to them for this action. The neighborhood organizations strongly support the DMD, City Inspectors and Code Compliance. In October, 2001, of last year, the City inspectors were receiving all kinds of accolades and encouragement from citizens as they were removing illegal signs in the right-of-way. They received positive comments of encouragement, cheers, and horns honking from citizens as they drove by and saw the inspectors in action. This year they were discouraged from removing political campaign signs, which were in violation of our city ordinances, during the election. This kind of action is undermining our city employees morale. Even today you will find political signs still in the right-of-ways, cluttering up our city, detracting from our goal for a “World Class City”. Did the politicians ensure that their signs were removed? “NO”! Win or lose they ought to be held accountable for the trash which they cause by littering our neighborhoods. And so it should apply to everyone else. It is embarrassing for visitors to make negative comments about the proliferation of signage in our city.

YES! We think that the sign ordinances should be changed. In fact we have made numerous requests over the last two years to DMD and the Mayor for a sign ordinance review. We support that the sign ordinance should be tightened, more restrictive and enforced. This is a “Quality of Life” issue, which has been supported by hundreds of citizens, spending over 3600 hours of voluntary time in the development of “Community Values Component” of the Comprehensive Plan passed by this Commission last February of this year. However, until that time comes, we encourage you and the citizens to support Code Enforcement and champion the good work, which our City Inspectors are trying to do on our behalf.

Let me present an analogy.

Where do you keep the “Yellow Pages” of your telephone book? Is it pronouncedly or obtrusively sitting on your coffee table in the Living Room of your home for your visitors or guests to see? How about in the Family Room? How about on your Dining Room Table? How about Kitchen Counter? How about in your Office? I have never been in anyone’s home or office where I’ve seen the “Yellow Pages”. They are put away because it is considered inappropriate for the décor of our homes or offices.

How about our city? We are letting our city streets, neighborhoods, and businesses align itself with illegal signs, obtrusive signs, and signs clutter and proliferation like the ads in the Yellow Pages.

In the meantime, we ask that you do not support this Resolution until a complete review occurs, because it will continue to add to the proliferation of signage abuse throughout our city. If this keeps up, Indianapolis slogan will change from “Circle City” to “Clutter City”.