A long-awaited plan to make Arlington County more business-friendly will be out by late July.
County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman's Business Initiative -- an attempt to make the county more responsive to the needs of local business owners -- is about to hit its six-month mark and Zimmerman said he's ready to begin making some of the changes recommended by 250 business owners during seven roundtable discussions with the county earlier this year.
The earliest changes will be to the county's famously restrictive sign ordinance, which could come at the end of next month with other changes to follow, he said.
"One of the things that people talk about over and over again is the sign ordinance and how onerous they find it to be," Zimmerman said.
Jim Barker, president of Washington Wine Academy, a nonprofit wine-tasting school, is among those eagerly awaiting change. Barker wants to put a sign in front of his school to attract customers, but the law won't allow it.
"Because we're not a convenience store, we're not a dry cleaner, we're not a bank, we're not allowed to have a sign," he said. "We'd love to have a sign, but we can't due to the fact that we don't fall exactly into the parameters."
The wine school has a door decal, but nothing else to alert customers of its presence on the retail ground floor of an apartment building -- and that missing sign has a definite economic effect, Barker said.
"We've confused and frustrated our customers because we can't put signage up," he said.
Angela Fox, president of the Crystal City Business Improvement District, said the sign law needs to change despite county fears that too many signs will make Arlington gaudy.
"I think that really effective retail districts sometimes look a little messy and colorful, and you want to see that color," she said. "It doesn't have to be Times Square."
Zimmerman said he hopes the revised sign ordinance will allow sandwich board signs on sidewalks and decals on umbrellas for outdoor seating. A draft of the revised sign law would be made available for public comment and then go to the board for approval before the end of the year, he said.
As part of its efforts to accommodate businesses, the county is also working to streamline confusing permitting rules. One option might be to hire a liaison to help business owners learn every code they need to follow and help them connect with the right offices, Zimmerman said.
The county has already started to improve communication and regulations, said Terry Holzheimer, director of Arlington Economic Development. It created a business portal on the county website and is working to make sure terms used across departments are synchronized. Right now some departments call things by different names, he said.
Business owners expressed relief that the county was making an effort.
"For us," Barker said, "better late than never."
