PIGEON FORGE â The city will have a new set of sign ordinances before its moratorium on sign permits ends, after commissioners voted 4-1 Monday to approve the new regulations.
The city first announced its plans for a moratorium at its Feb. 22 meeting, approving it on first reading. The moratorium started on March 8, and with approval of the new ordinances will end April 27.
Commissioner Ken Maples, who had already expressed reservations with the regulations at a workshop, cast the sole dissenting vote against the new regulations.
The ordinances aim to make the cityâs regulations âcontent neutralâ after the old regulations were overturned in court.
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SEVIERVILLE Sevier County residents will not be able to get Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine for COVID-19 for an undetermined amount of time after the federal government recommended a “pause” in distribution of the vaccine.
The Tennessee Department of Health announced Tuesday that it would follow federal recommendations to hold off on administering the vaccine while federal officials review reports of rare but dangerous blood clots in a handful of patients who have received the vaccine.
State officials said they expect to be able to continue providing vaccinations in Tennessee on schedule, although patients will need to take the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, both of which require two doses to be fully effective.
PIGEON FORGE â City Commission appears set to pass new sign regulations when it meets April 12, but with changes that would allow existing signs to remain as is and an alteration of the proposed size limits.
Commissioners moved right away to ask that staff remove a requirement that existing signs be brought into compliance within 10 years. Theyâll now be âgrandfatheredâ in, meaning they can remain as they are unless removed from the ground.
âI think we all probably agreed to that pretty quick, that that needs to go,â Mayor David Wear said.
That eliminated one major concern for the owners of the cityâs existing billboards, and it means the new ordinances wonât force any quick change to the signs that already line the Parkway and other heavily visited areas.