Soon wayward travelers along life's long, dark Whitesville Road could be led to Jesus by light-emitting diodes.
Harvest Faith Community Church at 7777 Whitesville Road just got a variance to put up a sign outside that uses light-emitting diodes or LEDs, which Columbus' Board of Zoning Appeals had been reluctant to allow because the church is in a residential zone.
The church, which already had paid $20,000 for the 30-square-foot sign before the zoning snag came up last month, worked with city regulators on a compromise.
The compromise is that the church can put the sign up as long as it doesn't put the sign up as high as it initially had planned to. Instead of topping a 10-foot pole, the sign will be just 2 feet off the ground on a brick "monument" base.
The church had appealed the zoning appeals board's denial of its sign to Columbus Council, which on May 27 discussed the issue for almost an hour before delaying a decision for two weeks. On Tuesday, councilors granted the variance and thanked Pastor Brad Carpenter for working with the city to resolve the matter.
Final budget vote
Also Tuesday, council took the final vote on adopting a city budget for the 2009 fiscal year that begins July 1.
The $210.7 million budget reflects an increase of 2.55 percent over this year's $205.5 million budget. Much of the increase, $4.5 million, will go to raising city workers' pay to a level competitive with what a University of Georgia study shows comparably sized organizations pay. City administrators say the rest of the increase largely results from increased fuel costs and related inflation.
Council made one last-minute change: To save $1.5 million, the pay raises workers will get were to take effect three months into the fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1. But Oct. 1 will be a Wednesday, and starting a new pay scale in the middle of a work week would cause complications. So council voted to kick off the pay plan on Sept. 29, a Monday.
If residents approve, the local option sales tax up for a vote July 15 won't take effect until Jan. 1, and won't affect the city budget until the 2010 fiscal year.
