Signs of our Economy

By: Derek J. Gordon.

“Signs” of our Economy

Signs in a weakened economic state can be vital to companies which intend to keep storefronts open and operational rather than shuttering and laying off the workforce. Neighborhoods vanish leaving restaurants and shopping centers in areas where daily traffic flow is curtailed. Some store locations are out of luck; others have the opportunity to revitalize, remodel, and develop a new strategy to grab customers at a distance.

Braums Inc. is one of the many fast food chains feeling the strains of the consumer purse. Instead of closing one store located at Bryant and NE 63rd in Oklahoma City, the company sought to invest capital in a renovation project to overhaul its outdated image. The neighborhood around this store has decreased dramatically. The surroundings have decreased to only 800 people in a square mile whereas other locations in the Oklahoma City Metro averaged 5,000 people in the same vicinity of those stores.

Such demographic changes required more than just a remodeling effort. The Braums store is located a short distance off of I-35. But, the current sign cannot be seen from both directions of the interstate because of the topography. The company decided it would serve well to remove the older, short sign and replace it with the modern sign at 70 feet high. Braums Inc. found empirical evidence that the taller sign would ensure an increase in interstate travelers stopping at this location more often.

Tyler Signs Inc. (Tyler) and its customer-developer are attempting to revitalize a commercial district on the south side of Oklahoma City. Their objective is to remodel a shopping center that has served solely as a parking lot for a couple of decades. But renovations alone cannot attract customers; those all-familiar signs are necessary to obtain the attention and to touch the curiosity of passersby. Tyler proposed to modify two existing signs, to remove four signs, and to construct another. Modifications would increase the square footage on the existing signs.

Such signage changes required a variance at a minimum to proceed. Particularly, Braums Inc. had to obtain variances for three Oklahoma City ordinances: Chapter 3 Section 102(c)(5) sets the maximum 50 foot sign height; Chapter 3, Section 83(a)(1) prohibits locating a sign on or over the street right-of-way; and Chapter 3, Section 83(h) outlines the landscaping requirements of the sign regulations for 10 feet of landscaping around the perimeter. Tyler sought a variance for Section 83(h) and Section 102(c)(2) and (4) which provide the maximum number of permitted signs and the maximum size and height of signs. The new sign would stand eight feet above the 200 foot maximum assigned by ordinance. Further, the requirement for landscaping around the sign will be too stringent for the three signs to meet.

Signs are a part of economic activity. They have been a part of our society and of the world as a whole for thousands of years. However, technology permits their intrusion to be greater and very distracting for residents in the surrounding areas and for drivers who need to focus on the road ahead.

Signs found their greatest national attack when the Highway Beautification Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1965. The act sought control of outdoor advertising along the country’s developing interstate highway system through scenic development. The nation, just like the municipalities, saw hundreds of signs along the roadside obstructing views, creating hazards, and otherwise running afoul of aesthetics.[i]

As the country thrived during economic boom as a whole, so did numerous cities. Oklahoma City was no different. Hundreds of commercial buildings and shopping centers were built along the city avenues. However when urban sprawl and economic woes of the inner-city struck, those buildings and their old, grotesque signs were left standing as a blight on the local communities. Ordinances like Oklahoma City’s sought to ensure that early blight would not occur repeatedly as certain areas thrived for temporary periods.

One reaction to the over-abundance of signs has been the creation of municipal ordinances to limit the quantity of signs in a particular area. Other ordinances seek to minimalize the sign’s physical dimensions. Still, other rules require beautification around the base of the signage to blend it in a harmonic fashion with the municipal community.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma City and other cities have consistently failed to take economic restoration into account. The ongoing attempt of companies like Braums to rejuvenate old store locations rather than shuttering the windows continues to face challenge and push-back. The continued stressors from city permit requirements and resistance by some Board members will necessarily hinder economic revitalization in areas that direly need it. Not all restaurant and service outlets have the time, patience, or money required by the government to assist their fellow neighbors.

Tyler Signs Inc. is attempting to beautify some current signs, construct more appeasing structures, and remove unneeded signage blight. Private enterprise desires to restart the south side of the City. This creates jobs by reopening a shopping center or other venues, and it removes “junk” that the government might inevitably find itself funding cleanup operations to remove.

The other side of the argument is a belief in beautification and uniformity of structures, whether new or remodeled, with the surrounding area. Such restrictions permit the municipality to continue to move towards that metropolitan utopia. Further, it saves the local tax base the various costs. Some of those costs reflect real estate values near unpleasant edifices or costs of government demolishing of the blight should the owner let the locale fall into disrepair.

Municipal requirements are a great benefit in booming times. Such rules keep the city cleaner and more uniform. Sadly, those same rules have a profound effect in a recession and real estate shift that our economy currently finds itself in. A more liberal approach toward less enforcement or relaxations of variance requirements could prove beneficial for bringing better “signs” of the municipality’s economic future.

Local authorities would be wise to modify the current structure of zoning regulations. Reduction in requirements and extensions of permitted uses, such as sign height, would allow for businesses to redevelop and inject money into the neighborhood and the municipality itself. The cities can succeed in assuring beautification continues with fewer ordinances holding back the flow of capitalisim.

[i] http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/beauty.cfm