Maitland debates code change as event attendence lags

Dwindling attendance at Maitland events has organizers urging the city to change its sign code to allow for more promotional material along roadways.

Maitland updated its sign code last September for the first time since the 1970s to help clean up sign clutter throughout the city, but people in charge of hosting some of the city’s most popular events say the update went too far.

With the city’s next major event – the Maitland Rotary Art Festival – less than a month away, the Maitland City Council is working to revise its ordinance to allow for additional signage for events hosted at Lake Lily Park to help boost exposure.

Jeff Aames, the administrator for the Maitland Area Chamber of Commerce, said the code changes that went into effect last year have been devastating for the many events his organization has hosted in 2015.

“If you don’t have signage up to let people know about an event, you don’t have people attending your event,” Aames said.

The new sign code limits event organizers to post only one sign in the city placed at the venue where their event will be hosted, for a maximum of 10 days.

Aames said he’s seen a drastic dip in attendance to the Chamber’s events, such as the Maitland Spring Festival of the Arts and the Taste of Maitland, since the new ordinance went into effect.

Jeff Flowers, president of Performing Arts of Maitland, said he’s seen a similar impact on his organization’s concert attendance. He said crowd numbers were down at PAM’s spring performances.

“We did all the same advertising that we usually do, like we did last spring… the only difference was we didn’t have signs out,” Flowers said.

Steve Ruta, president of the Maitland Rotary, said he’s concerned about the impact that the sign code could have on the upcoming Maitland Rotary Art Festival if changes to allow more signage don’t come through in time for the event in November.

Ruta said that the large signs the Rotary used last year to advertise the event are stuck in storage now, as they don’t fit the new code. Instead, he said, his group is working to provide willing community members with small signs they can place in their private yards to let people know that the art festival is coming to town.

“We’re going to try to do our best to compensate for the lack of visibility,” Ruta said. “It’s a concern.”

Flowers said PAM is trying a similar technique to skirt the sign code by providing residents with signs to put in their yards. Only one such “free expression” sign is allowed on each private property, unless the property is on a corner lot in which case residents can place one facing each abutting roadway.

“It’s ridiculous to me,” Flowers said, “instead of putting signs in public places, you’re forcing me to put them in private places… We’re going in the wrong direction here.”

The newly proposed changes to the sign code to allow for more exposure for Lake Lily events, Flowers said, don’t go far enough. He said the new rules won’t help PAM or the many other organizations that host events at other venues throughout the city.

But at the their Oct. 12 meeting, members of the Maitland City Council gave preliminary approval of the proposed promotional sign code changes solely directed at Lake Lily Park – an effort to keep the sign code from being opened up too wide for now.

This Thursday, Oct. 15, The Maitland Planning & Zoning Commission will evaluate the proposed changes and provide recommendations to the City Council. The Council will then offer its final vote or approval or denial of the promotional sign code changes at its next meeting on Oct. 26.