Local

Bar owner hopes Sanford lets him keep iconic sign outside The Barn

Sanford is trying to clean up of the look of the city and businesses along State Road 17/92 by requiring owners to lower pole signs, or replace them.
 
One of the dozens of businesses caught up in the change is The Barn, a place where many musicians have gotten their start over the decades.
 
Channel 9's Kendra Oestreich found out there's now a fight to save the bar's iconic sign.
 
The sign has been a part of the city for 36 years but under the city's sign ordinance it has to go.
 
Garth Brooks and The Barn go back to the 1980s. He sings about it in his song "The Old Stuff."
 
Blake Shelton made an appearance at The Barn just last year. It wasn't his first time on The Barn's stage.
 
Owner Eric Thims is trying to preserve a piece of that past by preserving his sign.
 
"There's a lot of people who would be very upset if I didn't put up as big of a fight as possible to keep the sign," said Thims.
 
Under the city's 2009 sign ordinance, businesses must have monument-style signs.
 
City officials said they have extended the deadline several times over the years to allow owners to comply. But code enforcement started cracking down in February. They sent out notices to several businesses telling owners: Make the change or face fines of up to $500 a day.
 
City officials said there are 30 businesses not in compliance, but there is an exception if the sign can be deemed a local landmark by the Historic Preservation Board. In that case a sign can stay.
 
"So far it's been overwhelming the number of people who have reached out to say 'save the sign,'" said Thims.
 
Thims said he has been talking with the city, working to draft his application to request The Barn's sign be considered a landmark.