McAllen turns up heat on sign reform

McALLEN -- Pressure from City Hall to clean up the glut of banners and signs along commercial strips like 10th Street is running into opposition from local businesses.

"We don't have a problem with beautifying McAllen, but we thought we put up (our) signs in good taste," said Lolo Martinez, general manager of Woodlands, a North McAllen restaurant ordered to remove signs advertising dinner specials. "Our business went up 25 to 30 percent since we put them up. If we take them down, it's going to hurt."

This week the city's code enforcement officers cited nearly 150 signs along the city's major commercial corridors - everything from illegal portable signs in the parking lot to banners without the proper permitting. For years the city sign ordinance has largely gone unheeded, but with two city commissioners pushing for reform, the days of leniency seem at an end.

"They did the sweep (Thursday)," said Assistant City Manager Pilar Rodriguez. "If they don't respond, we hand out fines."

City Commissioners Marcus Barrera and Scott Crane are pushing for an overhaul of the existing sign ordinance, which would ban putting up pole signs in favor of ground-level signs and would drastically limit the size of signs within city limits.

"It gives the feel of a more pleasant shopping experience, kind of like visiting one of the developments in Austin or Frisco (a Dallas suburb)," Barrera said. "We're trying to make McAllen a destination city."

But the lengths to which Barrera wants to go have many business owners scratching their heads.

"I just don't see the need to over-regulate this," said Mike Egan, the owner of Hiway Neon, a sign company in Pharr. "There's quite a bit of resentment they used Sugar Land and Frisco as models. We're not a bedroom community to Houston or anywhere else."

City Commissioner John Ingram is siding with the business owners and said he will vote against the new ordinance in its current form.

"Let's enforce the ordinance we have before we pass new ordinances," he said. "Maybe we don't have as much of a problem as we think."

Two months ago the matter was expected to go before the City Commission this summer. That's less certain to happen now, given the strong opinions being expressed about the proposal.

Over the last few months local business leaders have become more vocal on the subject, with over 100 showing up Thursday for a meeting with city commissioners.

"When there's change, there's always fear," Barrera said. "We've been working on this for two years, gathering input and tweaking it. We're in the stage we're shopping it around."

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James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.