Shop owner decries downtown sign policy

A longtime downtown Frederick business owner said the city's rules on signs are anti-business after he was forced to remove a banner advertising items he sells in his store.
Joe Cohen took down the sign outside his Classic Cigars and British Goodies store at 14 N. Market St.Removing the sign "doesn't help business, and they ignore the other signs when it pleases them," he said.
"I want the banner back up."
The yellow banner measuring 6 feet by 2 feet hung from the veranda outside the store advertising beer, cigarettes and wine.
Joe Adkins, the city's deputy director for planning, said the sign was a clear violation of Frederick 's Land Management Code.
Section 864 of the code outlaws temporary signs in the city's historic district.
Cohen tried to have his case heard by the Historic Preservation Commission, but because the sign violated the code, the commission would have no power to overrule it, Adkins said.
"We received complaints about it, inspectors went out and we did what we had to do," he said.
Adkins said the city acted on more than one complaint about the sign.
If the sign were to stay up, Cohen would probably be fined $25 per day.
On Friday, Cohen removed the sign that he said was vital to getting people into his store.
He moved his store farther south on Market Street last spring, but the new location has limited views of what he sells inside.
"It's clear that people from out of town need to know what you've got to sell," he said.
Cohen said he sent a presentation to City Hall showing examples of other temporary, banner signs in the historic district.
Adkins said many of his examples were real estate banners, which are exempt under the code.
Cohen said the only alternative to effectively advertise his business would require him to spend thousands of dollars to install a new veranda.
"I can't afford that," he said.