AIKEN - Merchants in downtown Aiken received a break Monday night, when the city council voted to allow shop owners to display sale items on sidewalks all year round.
In the ordinance, the Aiken City Council allows merchants to display and sell merchandise anytime on any public right-of-way within two feet of the storefront.
The previous city ordinance prohibited merchandise on sidewalks except during designated sidewalk sale events sponsored by the Aiken Downtown Development Association.
"Some think it is OK to display merchandise outside, that it adds a certain character," City Manager Roger LeDuc said.
"Others think that if you don't get in the right things, it will make it look tacky."
The development association proposed the ordinance be amended to allow up to six sidewalk sales each calender year, believing that the "random display of merchandise should be discouraged."
The council did not agree.
Mr. LeDuc said the new ordinance should be easy to enforce.
"It's something we can measure and observe," he said. "The council can always come back and look at it if they don't like what they see."
Reach Michelle Guffey at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or michelle.guffey@augustachronicle.com.
IN OTHER ACTION
The Aiken City Council also approved the following:
- An ordinance for the annexation and the concept plan for a new home development at Powderhouse Road and Old Powderhouse Road. It would require that the developer pay a fee to help with the construction of a left-turn lane at the entrance to the development.
- An ordinance to amend the city of Aiken employment retirement plan.
- A developer's agreement for Woodside Phase IV, which stipulates that the developer pay the city $210 per lot on a quarterly basis to fund a left-turn lane at the intersection of Silver Bluff and Anderson Pond Road and Whiskey Road at Chime Bell Road.
- A resolution asking the state Highway Department to authorize the city to accept responsibility for a portion of Union Street.
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