With the holidays quickly approaching, the Sandy Springs City Council is considering clarifying its rules on what is and what isn’t acceptable holiday decor for businesses.
In the meantime, it’s backing off on its current policy which angered one local business manager.
Kevin Foley, general manager of the Sandy Springs Design Center on Roswell Road, said city officials issued him a warning two weeks ago after he installed a 12-foot tall inflatable Frankenstein’s monster on top of the building for Halloween.
“I bought one and stuck it on a building not thinking it would be an issue,” Foley said. “It was up there for a week to 10 days and all of a sudden I got a citation.”
He said when he asked the city about it, he was told the issue was being revisited. He removed the inflatable monster from the top of the building and put it on the ground next to the building.
At its work session on Nov. 1, council members discussed Foley’s issue and discussed a possible revision of the policy.
The current policy prohibits balloons, streamers or air or gas filled figures; signs consisting in whole or in part of a series, line, or row of lights, whether supported by cables or other physical means, visible from within 150 feet of a street. Business owners can display holiday lights and decorations if displayed 30 days or less before a holiday.
All the major holidays are included in the city’s definitions of “Holiday,” except for Halloween. According to City Spokeswoman Sharon Kraun, Halloween was “inadvertently” left out, but will be added back in.
The council proposed allowing the display of an unlimited number of blow-up, free-standing seasonal decorations, which can be placed to be on top of buildings, 30 days before a holiday and seven days afterward. The council would state in its ordinance that it would prefer string lights be white or clear but not mandate their color, and business owners could hang lights the same amount of time as the blow-up decorations.
The proposed ordinance will go through the city’s planning process, which will not resolve itself before the holiday season begins. Cecil McLendon, one of the city’s attorneys, recommended the City Council at its next meeting place a moratorium on enforcing certain provisions of the current policy until the suggested revisions are approved.
Mayor Eva Galambos called the balloons “horrible” and in bad taste. Galambos asked the council to limit the blow-up decorations to one per business.
Bob Brown, owner of the Design Center, attended the Nov. 1 meeting with Foley. Brown said he was happy with what he heard because it shows a willingness for the city to work with business owners.
“I think they overreacted over silly stuff,” Brown said. Foley said he was glad to see the city address the issue, but didn’t care for the mayor’s negative comments about his blow-up balloon.
“Obviously, she’s anti-holiday,” he said.
