Sign or Art?

Kim Jensen contends that painting on the wall of her Egg Harbor restaurant, Mojo Rosa’s, is a mural. Village officials call it signage. Now, it looks like it will take a date in Door County circuit court to see who’s opinion of art is correct.

Village ordinance limits the total area of permitted signage for a business of 6,500 square feet or more to 75 square feet. Mojo Rosa’s has a permitted stand-alone sign measuring 40 square feet. That sign is not in question. A smaller, not permitted sign attached to the second story of the building facing south is. Then there’s the primary issue, the painting on the wall that faces the highway.

Mojo Rosa’s owner Kim Jensen will go to court to fight the Village of Egg Harbor to keep the mural on her wall.

The entire length of the wall is painted with a green background, red roses, and the name of the business, Mojo Rosa’s, in the center of the wall in large letters. Calsey Cross, a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, completed that work in 2009. Jensen said she considers the wall to be art, but Village Administrator Josh Van Lieshout said it’s clearly signage.

The village considers the roses an extension of the business logo.

“The real issue here is that they want the roses off the wall,” Jensen said. “First they said they didn’t like them and asked me to paint over them, now they’re calling it signage. I want to know who is complaining? Who decides what art looks like?”

Van Lieshout said that it’s a cut-and-dry instance of a business violating the rules of operating in the village.

“We’re trying to encourage the property owner to comply with the code,” he said. “It’s not about punishing someone, it’s about getting someone to comply with the rules of the village. We’re dealing with violations that go back two years.”

When the village notified Jensen of a complaint in a letter dated July 9 of 2009, just one sign on her property was permitted, a 40 square foot ground sign for which a permit was issued Sept. 13, 2007. Jensen said she never applied for permits for the other signs because they simply replaced signs from the previous owner’s business.

Jensen was given 10 days to remove the non-permitted signs or face penalties and possible court action. On Sept. 2, 2009, Jensen was issued a permit for a sign for Pink Bakery, another business owned by Jensen and located behind Mojo Rosa’s, bringing her permitted signage to 48 square feet. That permit carried the condition that Jensen bring the other signage on the building into compliance. Those requested changes have not happened, and in July of 2010, the village filed a complaint in Door County Circuit Court.

Jensen said communication with the village has been difficult. She has offered to paint over the Mojo Rosa’s lettering on the wall, but the village won’t assure her that the roses can stay. When she first bought the building she said the village forced her to make costly changes to the free-standing sign in front of her entrance.

“I was told I could change the name of the business and be grandfathered in,” she said. “I was told that I would not have to move my sign to conform to the new setbacks. Then they made me move it anyway, and it cost me $4,000 to push the sign back a few feet.”

Village officials say that the roses on the west facing wall are part of the Mojo Rosa’s trademark, making the entire wall a sign, which exceeds the maximum square footage.

Village President Nancy Fisher said communication isn’t the issue.

“We sent notification after notification for sign ordinance violations which were ignored,” she said. “Now we are simply taking the corrective steps outlined in our code. She didn’t take any corrective action. If we were not to pursue a violation that was going on since she acquired the business we would be showing her favoritism.”

Jensen said her battles with the village have cost her about $12,000 so far. “I don’t see why this is such a big issue,” she said. “They’re wasting taxpayer money and my money.” Jensen argued that other businesses in the village have art on their walls that could be considered signage by the same definition the village is using for her roses.

“We have been repeatedly told by residents and business owners that we need to preserve the quaintness and charm of the village,” Fisher said, “and controlling signage is certainly a part of that process.”

The two sides will meet in Door County Circuit Court May 6 at 8 am.