SALISBURY — The city has reduced the fine owed by Okey Dokey & Co. General Store on West Innes Street for have too much signage from $19,000 to $150, a city press release said this afternoon.
The reduction comes after the city and store reached a resolution that included the store removing 20 hand-painted signs from its facade that didn’t comply with Salisbury’s codes restricting the square footage a business can devote to signage.
Okey Dokey’s owners, Bette Pollock and Stan Williamson, put up the signs advertising their wares after an April 2010 fire burned an awning that listed the goods offered by the store.
The city says Code Services Manager Chris Branham first told store owners in October that the signs did not comply with city code. Three notices were mailed and Branham hand-delivered a fourth, according to the city.
Pollock told the Post earlier this week she got only one notice and tried to call city officials several times about the matter to no avail. She also said she did not know the fines accumulated daily.
City officials said the money was not the issue. Branham said the reduction of the fine takes into account “the spirit of the code and not just the letter of the code.”
“The ultimate goal was to always have the owner bring themselves into compliance,” Branham said in the press release. “The daily fines are a mechanism to encourage that. We are happy to work with our local businesses to ensure that they are aware of regulations and city-established code before they begin any work.”
For more information about Salisbury’s code, contact Public Information Officer Karen Wilkinson at 704-638-2113.