St. Clairsville planning and zoning administrator Tom Murphy reminds residents to call his office if they are unsure of the authenticity of a business operating in the city.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – City council updated an ordinance allowing businesses in the historic downtown to display hanging signs during its meeting Monday evening.

Council members Kristi Lipscomb, Audrey Brahler and planning and zoning administrator Tom Murphy have spent the past 14 months working to update an existing ordinance from 1991 that banned hanging signs for businesses in downtown.

In 1994, St. Clairsville’s downtown was recognized by the National Register of Historic Places to ensure the city preserved its historic architecture.

The ordinance applies to any building, structure or portion of property with frontage along Main Street from Butler Street to Sugar Street, Marietta Street from St. Patrick’s Alley to St. David’s Alley and Market Street from St. Patrick’s Alley to St. David’s Alley.

“There are design guidelines for the downtown historic district that people have to follow for businesses and any residences that are within that historic district,” Lipscomb said. “The guidelines are outdated. A lot of people over the years have complained that they were too strict and they were outdated, so I worked very closely with Tom Murphy revising all of the guidelines, rewriting them and making them a little bit more appealing to new businesses, helping maybe entice new businesses to come to the downtown district.”

She added that she is hoping the updated ordinance will also help existing businesses show their own individuality and personality without losing the integrity of the historic district.

“I think it keeps hold of the tradition of the town, the historic feel, but also allows a little bit more leeway to modernize the way the town looks and how businesses are operating,” Lipscomb said.

The front facade of any existing or proposed structure must be reviewed and approved by the newly created Downtown District Review Board. The board is replacing the St. Clairsville Architecture Review Board, which will now be dissolved.

“Everything that people come up with does still go through the new board that will be formulated under this ordinance. But before it was strict,” Lipscomb said. “The new board will be composed of five members. One member shall be a member of city council who also sits on the planning commission committee, which is me at the present time, and that is appointed by the president of council, who’s Jim Velas. One member shall have a background in historic preservation, architecture, urban planning, exterior design or a related field and be a resident of Belmont County. That person will be appointed by the mayor, Kathryn Thalman.”

She added that the remaining three members must be current business owners or property owners located within the historic district.

“We thought it was important that the members have a vested interest in the downtown area,” Lipscomb said.

Brahler added that the updated ordinance will also modernize the language within the ordinance.

“We were able to really cut out the hard language and that was much appreciated. Let me tell you, when I was reading that thing five years ago, it was not fun. This was a much easier read,” Brahler said.

She was referring to the difficulties she experienced with the language of the previous ordinance while creating her business, Giacinta’s Gelato and Cafe.

Council agreed that the updated ordinance is a much-needed modernization that allows businesses to have more freedom.

Murphy then informed council and residents that with the seasons changing, it may bring the return of a scam that occurred last year.

M.O.B. Construction and Love’s Paving were going door to door telling residents they were doing a paving project nearby and had an excess of asphalt in their truck and could do patchwork for a set price. Once the resident agreed to the proposed work, the company would do the work and once it was finished, tell the resident that they owed more than agreed upon.

Murphy said that if any residents are unsure about the authenticity of a business operating in the city, they should contact his office.