BURGAW — A small town in Pender County is deciding how to move forward on a mural ordinance passed by its planning board in February.
After commissioners shelved passing it last week in favor of more residential feedback, the town of Burgaw released a survey Thursday.
READ MORE: ‘Lots of unanswered questions’: Burgaw mural discussion continues, public input welcome
It is made up of five questions, asking where murals should be allowed and sizing restrictions. It also asks if surveyors support an ordinance or think the displays of public art should merely follow sign rules.
The town will utilize feedback at its community session next week, slated to take place Tuesday, March 28, at the Burgaw Train Depot. The town’s survey can be accessed here.
Locals and town officials have expressed support of a mural ordinance, many however also taking issue over restrictions written in its original proposal. It describes murals as a wall sign or images, to be painted directly on a surface, rather than projected, suspended or mounted above or on it.
Murals would also have to follow all sign requirements and must be:
- Limited to the rear and side façades and shall not be permitted on any primary façade. For the purposes of this section, a primary façade shall be any side of a building facing the street to which it is addressed and that contains the principal entrance
- Not permitted on any roof or permanent fence
- Maintained and not become faded; any in disrepair shall be considered a violation of the sign permit and shall be removed
- Demonstrated to have existed previously to be permitted as an “historic mural,” regardless of placement
- Disallowed on buildings listed as a contributing resource on the National Register of Historic Places, collectively or individually, sand, high-pressure water blasting, and treatments that cause damage to historic building materials, whether for surface preparation or maintenance purposes
All applications for the murals would have to be signed off on by the property owner and come with a maintenance plan.
In addition to filling out a survey, the town welcomes input sent to the planning director at gcombs@burgawnc.gov by 5 p.m. on March 27.
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