Murfreesboro’s Fight Over Window Signs Pits Safety Against Business

An attempt to simplify a 79-page sign ordinance in Murfreesboro is meeting some resistance from local business owners. One proposed change could require businesses to remove signs from the middle of their windows, around eye-level. At a recent public hearing, some business owners complained that part of the window is prime advertising space.

But Murfreesboro police officer Amy Norville argued the “clear vision zone” is important for safety.

“These windows allow the public to feel welcomed into the business, and feel safe knowing what activity is going on inside prior to entering,” she told the planning commission. “Covering of windows is a safety issue for police officers answering emergency calls.”

The police department declined to tell WPLN what brought about this concern. Planning commissioner Eddie Smotherman says it was the police department that requested the clear zone, but that all departments got to weigh in on sign changes.

“There was no event that took place or anything that provoked it. We were simply trying to come up with as good an ordinance as we possibly could,” Smotherman says.

Still, because this ordinance only deals with signs, it wouldn’t prevent businesses from blocking windows in other ways — for example, with blinds or curtains. Evelyn Kiviniemi, who owns Animal City in Murfreesboro, says she doesn’t understand the logic.

“If you have two windows that are identical, and one person puts a sign in it and one person puts window blinds in it, one of them is fined and one of them isn’t?” she says.

About a decade ago, Kiviniemi put up large tinted decals of animals on the window of her pet store, right where the clear vision zone would be. She’s worried she’ll have to take them down if the ordinance passes, which she says will make her storefront less attractive.

After the last public hearing, planning commissioners seemed in favor of the clear zone, but they wanted it revised — at least to allow businesses to post their hours at eye level on their doors.

The Murfreesboro city codes department is still working on those revisions, Smotherman says. The planning commission isn’t expected to vote on them until September.