MAMA seeks feedback on current sign code

MONTROSE — Businesses are being asked to comment on whether their operations have been affected by the city's sign code, which underwent some changes early this year.

The Montrose Area Merchants Association (MAMA) is surveying merchants to find out whether the current code has had impacts on local businesses and if so, how (see infobox for details).

In the first 24 hours of sending out an e-mail on Monday requesting comments, MAMA received 16 replies, said Juli Messenger, association executive director. She would not disclose the names of those businesses because they've been granted anonymity as MAMA goes through the process.

"I have found that my merchants are more likely to provide me with candid responses and more detailed responses if I'm not going to share that source or business particulars with someone else," she said.

The association represents all the city's sales tax licensees, which is presently more than 1,700 throughout the country and a few in Canada; however, only about half of these are located in Montrose, said Messenger.

MAMA's board of directors requested an e-mail survey be sent to merchants in order to compile information about the code's effects, she said. At an August meeting, Kent Wollert, representing Montrose car dealers, asked for the board's support in seeking changes to the code.

The board will determine the next step after they have reviewed the survey responses and heard back from the Montrose Car Dealers Association (following its meeting), said Messenger.

She said comments will likely be collected until the board's next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 9. The preferred response method is e-mail, but the association is flexible, she added.

Early this year the city began to more deliberately enforce its sign code, which underwent some revisions through feedback from a citizen's committee and public hearings last year.

The city council initiated the changes in response to complaints about the abundance of temporary signs and the detrimental effect on the community, Scott Shine, assistant city planner, said in August. Changes were made primarily to improve the city's look and put regulatory tools in place.

Send comments to:

Montrose Area Merchants Association

1500 East Oak Grove Road, Suite 202

P.O. Box 561, Montrose, CO 81402

Phone: (970) 249-6360

Fax: (970) 252-8066

director@montrosemama.org