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CENTERVILLE — A disagreement about a barber pole has landed a business owner in court over the city’s sign ordinance.
Craig DeAnthony, owner of Craig’s Barber Shop at 30 N. Main St., and the city have been battling over the issue at least eight years.
DeAnthony said he has wanted a rotating, illuminated barber pole — which is against city ordinance — in front of his business since opening his first location at 288 N. Main.
“When I opened in 2002, we went round and round about (the issue),” said DeAnthony, a 1987 Centerville High School graduate. “Finally, I was allowed to spin the pole, but not have it lit.”
City Planner Steve Feverston disputed that. “In 2002 we sent him a letter advising him that any barber pole or any moving sign is not permitted in the city at all,” he said.
Mechanically driven or rotating signs are prohibited in the Architectural Preservation District, where both of DeAnthony’s shops have been located.
When he moved his business down the street, DeAnthony said he decided not to fight the city again and put the barber pole in the back of his business.
Jennifer Wilder, assistant to the Centerville city manager, said the city has documentation allowing the barber pole to be in the back of the building, but not moving or lit.
However, DeAnthony claimed that “it’s been lighted and spinning since 2005 at my back door. I did not have one complaint about it until last week.”
City staff members said they did not see the barber pole moving or illuminated until this month.
DeAnthony said the city sent him a letter Oct. 14 saying the pole violated the city ordinance.
“They sent me a letter that said if I don’t turn it off, I will be prosecuted,” he said. “They didn’t say anything about moving it.”
DeAnthony took the pole down and put it in front of his store — without the lights or the motion.
“Then they came at me three or four days later and summoned me to court,” he said. “They charged me with a misdemeanor saying I hung a sign without a permit.”
DeAnthony said there is a hearing set for Friday in Kettering Municipal Court.
Centerville City Manager Greg Horn said the action taken against DeAnthony was due to his putting a sign on the front on his business without a permit.
Wilder confirmed that DeAnthony would need to file a permit to move the barber pole to the front, due to rules about signage allowed on the front of a business.
DeAnthony contends that a barber pole is not a sign, but an iconic symbol.
DeAnthony also said he believes the town clock built across the street from his business should be considered a sign.
“It is mechanically driven and internally lit,” he said. “It says ‘Centerville-Washington Foundation’ on it. And I have to hear it chiming all the time.”
Again, Horn disagreed.
“We went through proper procedures, and worked with the Washington Twp. trustees, Board of Architectural Review, etc. (The clock) is not meant to convey a commercial message; no more than a statue or a piece of public art,” Horn said.
DeAnthony said he thinks the city should loosen its regulations on small businesses to promote economic growth.
“My goal is to change the law,” he said.
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