By Nita McCann

NATCHEZ — City Planner Frankie Legaux hopes proposed changes to the city’s sign ordinance will make it easier for businesses to learn what their limits are.

“As it now stands, the code will say one thing in one place and something different in another,” Legaux said. “That makes the process confusing for people who want to open a business here in Natchez.”

Legaux has been with the city since October, when she moved to this area from Rockingham County, N.C.

She oversaw the same type of project in Rockingham, revising that county’s development code.

“When you write an ordinance, you know there’s going to be things you didn’t cover,” she said. “We’re going to take (Natchez’s current ordinance) apart piece by piece to take a closer look at what should be revised.”

Legaux said her office will solicit input on the sign ordinance from such stakeholders as city officials and representatives of the Historic Natchez Foundation.

“We want to know what they would like to see included in the ordinance,” she added. “What we’re about to do is research other cities’ (sign ordinances).”

After such research, the next step would be to advertise a public hearing on the matter to coincide with a meeting of the Natchez Planning Commission.

Both the Planning Commission and the Board of Aldermen must vote in favor of the revisions for them to take effect.

“I’d like to get (the proposed plan) to them by March or April so they can review it,” Legaux said.

Historic cities that have strong sign ordinances in place include Annapolis, Md.; Savannah, Ga.; Franklin, Tenn.; and Charleston, S.C., said Mimi Miller, executive director of the Historic Natchez Foundation.

Strong sign ordinances are vital to historic towns where tourism is a mainstay of the local economy, she said.

“It’s important to retain the historic ambiance,” Miller said. “And it puts small businesses on more of a level playing field with larger ones.”

The planning office should be the first stop for people attempting to open a business what the city’s sign requirements are.

“The sign ordinance is just disorganized, and we want to make it clear and consistent,” Legaux said.

“When you have a big company wanting to place a location within the city, they’ve already been through this process, so they’re familiar with it,” she added.

“But smaller businesses may not be familiar with the city’s requirements are with regard to signs.”