Navasota’s old Sunny Furman Theatre is sporting a brand new, animated, marquee sign these days, and at least one city councilman thinks it’s far too new for its surroundings.
Councilman Jeff Horn told City Council we’re talking about Navasota’s downtown Central Business District that’s on the National Registry of Historic Places. There is no business having a high-tech sign down there; anywhere in the Central Business District.
Horn argued the new sign flies in the face of the basic tenant of the city’s sign ordinance, because it’s not in harmony with the surrounding buildings.
Technically, he argued, it is flat panel monitor, and our ordinance specifically prohibits flat panel technology signs anywhere in the city, and there’s certainly no business to have them downtown in the business district.
And while admitting that LED lighted signs have been approved for use in Navasota residential areas, he maintains this sign is flat panel technology, and not LEDs.
Council unanimously passed the first reading of an ordinance calling for a 90-day moratorium on the approval of any further LED or electronic signs until the city can make up its collective mind at a workshop. if passed again on its second reading in two weeks, it will become law. Stay tuned.
