PLANT CITY, Fla. — Plant City leaders are working to enhance its downtown area. City leaders say that’s meant ensuring businesses are compliant with downtown codes.
The city’s code enforcement has started providing businesses with a proactive courtesy letter that provides examples of code issues.
Inside Sandi Williams’ store is where she feels like a kid again. She’s the owner of Brick City Bricks, a Lego store that’s been in business for nearly eight years in the heart of downtown Plant City.
But a letter she recently received from code enforcement concerned her.
“If people do not know that we’re not open and we can’t display the signs that we’re open, then that would hurt our business tremendously. We would be another one downtown going out of business,” she said.
The letter provides examples of common violations and areas of concern. From issues as minor as signs or flags overhanging sidewalks to something more significant, like an unpermitted sidewalk café.
But Williams feels like the city is limiting how she can promote her business.
“At first, it was the flag over the sidewalk, signage in the windows — they said they did not want us to do this per code, and also our open signs,” said Williams.
City manager Bill McDaniel spoke out about the letter and why it was distributed.
“The downtown merchants received a proactive courtesy letter providing examples of code issues that were being observed. They also received notice of a meeting we plan to hold in November to discuss positive improvements and investments that can be considered to further enhance our downtown environment for merchants, customers, and visitors,” he said.
Business owner Samuel Kimmel believes this could deter customers from stopping by his business.
“It’s just nice to have the nice signage the nice artwork and stuff, some of the buildings just look amazing, and for them to try and take that away, I’m just not into so much,” he said.
He runs Carlson Gracie Plant City Jiu-Jitsu, which has been serving people of all ages for 11 years. While he understands following the codes, he wants things to change, too.
“We’re here for the town, for our community. Why make it hard on the small businesses?” he said.
Local businesses hope they can continue to breathe life into downtown and believe strict code enforcement isn’t the answer.
As of right now, McDaniel says no citations have been given, but he said there will be a meeting to discuss improvements to downtown, which is scheduled for mid-November.
