Business owners concerned rules over fluttering flags could mean fluttering business

Published: Updated:
WINK News

Fluttering, feather flags, pennants and other signs are a common sight along the US-41 business corridor in Charlotte County.

For business owners like Tonya Marx, the additional signage is a tool to get people through the door.

“Before we ever had those signs, nobody even knew we were here,” Marx said, “Now that we have the signs up, we get people stopping here and I’m like ‘how did you find out about us?’ and they say from the signs out front.”

But soon you’ll see fewer of these signs in Charlotte County.

Starting April 1, signs can only go on display for 90 days a year, broken into two 45-day periods and business owners have to get a permit each time.

Charlotte county zoning official Shaun Cullinan said, “We were starting to get a lot of complaints … that it was starting to look kind of dumpy, trashy. People felt that it was too much. … we felt it was time to improve the aesthetics of our commercial corridor.”

But business owners say the new rules will hurt their bottom line.

“I just think they make it hard for business owners to try to get ahead,” said Margret Umbriano, owner of Hair Busters said “If they make us take those away then that’s going to take away business and a lot of people are probably going to close.”

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