Meeting about direction for historic downtown is on the way.
On September 10, City of Plant City staff handed out paperwork on city letterhead to downtown businesses that caused a dust-up., the following are highlights:
“To: All Downtown Plant City Businesses & Property Owners
Subject: Notice of Compliance Requirement–Downtown Historic Area Codes
Dear business and/or Property Owner(s),
As a valued member of our Downtown Plant City community, your continued investment and presence are essential to the character, vitality, and future of our Downtown Historic District.
In our shared commitment to preserving and enhancing the unique charm of the Downtown Historic Area, we are reaching out to remind you of the importance of complying with the City of Plant City Ordinances, particularly those specific to the Downtown Historic District and the Community Redevelopment Area (CRA).
“Please review the following issues that have been frequently identified:
• Unpermitted/Expired Sidewalk Cafes
• Items in the public right-of-way
• Signs and flags overhanging sidewalks
• Sandwich Board Signs
• General property maintenance:
o Chipping or peeling paint
o Rotting wood
o Broken or boarded windows
o Vegetation growing from structures
or foundations
o Damaged or deteriorating awnings
• Wall and window signage
• Unpermitted Signs
To support our shared goal of a clean, safe, and attractive downtown, all businesses and property owners are required to bring their properties into compliance with these regulations by October 1, 2025.”
The letter went on to offer possible financial assistance for businesses, and a way for owners to give preferred dates and times for a November meeting with the city so merchants can give feedback and ideas vital to shaping the future of downtown Plant City.
The letter brought quick reactions. Among them was a Facebook post: “….specifically when he said no flags are you saying we can’t fly our American flag and he said yes. That flag has been out there flying proud for 8 years and I will not take it down!! If beautifying downtown doesn’t include our American flag I think we got a problem. looks like I gonna be fined!!” As word got around, others were up in arms.
“Really, that portion of it was just a misunderstanding,” Mayor Nate Kilton said. “I know that city staff has gone back over and spoken with the owners. I stopped in, but Greg Williams wasn’t there. I called him personally to speak with him. The confusion was related to the height of the flag, because the flag was overhanging the sidewalk, so people had to walk around it or walk through it. All we are saying on the ordinance for the flag is it just had to be raised, that’s all. There is no way Plant City is going to say you can’t fly an American flag. Some of it comes to the signage issues, too. What I would say about it, first and foremost, it is important to recognize the investment the downtown merchants are making in downtown. That is not lost on me because I know how costly it is to renovate and operate in a historic building, and the last thing anybody wants to do is add additional cost to people. But we’ve had ordinances in place as they relate to signage and outdoor cafes, and some of those other things that need to be addressed. They may need to be tweaked a little bit. There will be a meeting in November to talk about what the overall vision is for downtown. But, I think it is important to make sure we have some consistency in coherent appearance as it relates to our downtown core, precisely because of all the investment that everybody is making. We want to respect people’s property rights. A homeowner’s association is kind of how to look at it. So, I think once everybody understands what the intent is, and is clear on things like the flag, we are going to be just fine on it. We will work on continued communications there.”
“This misunderstanding came from misinformation,” Brick City Bricks co-owner, Sandy Williams, said. “It was quickly resolved by the Code Enforcement Manager, Tina. It was a misunderstanding; that we did not have to remove the American flag, that we just needed to move it up some so that it was hanging higher, where it wouldn’t impede the sidewalk. I think all of the businesses downtown feel this exact same way, that it was a little overboard with a lot of stuff that’s going on. We are a small, veteran-owned business. There is a meeting in November that we can all go to and voice our concerns. All of the businesses that I have spoken to have said the exact same thing. ‘We need to be able to advertise our business. Having nothing in our window, and having no open signs in our windows would cause us great harm.’ So, I am really hoping that in November, when we have the meeting for code enforcement, that we can get something accomplished. The only change that will happen is when we come and voice our opinions, which we plan on doing.”
“If you’ve seen the letter, nowhere in there does it talk about your American flag,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. “Anybody that knows me, I am the last person to tell you to take your American flag down. I think the incident that everybody dusted up over was, at worst, a miscommunication between the people involved. I wasn’t there, but the flag in question was too low. It was an impediment to pedestrian traffic. The bottom line is, they were asked to just raise it. Which, as I understand it, they agreed to, and that was the end to it. But it got on social media and became something it wasn’t; it took on a life of its own. The codes speak to things like distractors and advertising flags. All that have definite limits on their use. That is what actually was meant to be addressed. I was very surprised there was any controversy about American flags.
The date for the merchants’ meeting with the city has not yet been set. “That meeting is really not intended to talk about code enforcement issues so much as it is to talk about the overall direction of downtown,” McDaniel said. “I think it is time to revisit some of the merchants’ and building owners’ viewpoints and priorities, and have a discussion about them. Of course, we can discuss code issues too, but what we are really looking to do is have a very positive, proactive meeting to determine what things we all want to work collaboratively on to benefit and improve our downtown….It’s a discussion revisiting what direction we want to take our downtown, what can we do as a city to support our merchants and have some positive benefit on the direction of downtown.
