Vice Mayor appoints sign task force

Group put together after LED tussle earlier this year

Email | Print By Nate Rau

Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors has announced her appointments for the task force that will make recommendations to Council on how to overhaul Metro’s 16-year-old sign ordinance.

The task force is being co-chaired by Burkley Allen and Jane Alvis. Other committee members are at-large Council members Megan Barry and Charlie Tygard as well as the following:

- Residential real estate agent John Brittle
- Lobbyists Stewart Clifton ad Dan Haskell
- Metro Director of Codes Terry Cobb
- Judge Gloria Dumas
- Debby Dale Mason, chief community action officer at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
- Former Council member Larry McWhirter
- Neighborhood advocates Bob Cooper, Anna Shepherd and Patricia Totty (The latter also is director of compliance for TennCare.)
- Zoning administrator Sonny West
- Former Council member and current BZA member Chris Whitson, who also is a member at Sherrard & Roe
- Kathryn Withers, a Planning Department staffer

The first meeting of the task force will be Aug. 26.

Neighbors’ appointment of the task force comes after one of the few showdowns in Council this year over the notion of allowing electronic light-emitting diode signs for places of worship and schools in residential areas.

Tygard proposed a bill that would have allowed LED signs like the ones often seen at pharmacies in residential areas, but the bill was blasted by neighborhood groups throughout Davidson County.

Tygard formed his own task force on the issue, which was strongly criticized by Barry, who argued that Council should follow its own rules on the issue. Special task forces are typically formed by the vice mayor.

During debates surrounding LED signs, it was commonly agreed that Metro’s sign ordinance is outdated and needs to be modified.