By Jennifer Wilson - The City of Jackson’s temporary sign ordinance made it through a first reading at Monday night’s City Council meeting. Since the last meeting, city staff have been fine-tuning the sign ordinance, which will limit the size and use of temporary commercial signs within the city. The most noticeable complaint from previous meetings regarded real estate signs. Real estate agents weighed in on the sign amendment, stating that a maximum size of 16 square feet was too small for commercial listings. After some discussion, the council, with the help of city staff, decided to keep the 16 square foot maximum size, but allow exceptions. Anyone who wishes to have a larger sign will need to request it on a permit application and it will need to be approved by the Jackson Planning Commission. Local agent Sally Bligh is happy that she’ll be able to erect larger signs for commercial real estate. “I think it’s great. It’s really a safety feature… people driving by don’t want to stop to write down the name and number (from the sign),” Bligh said. Mayor Rosalie Pryor Escamilla, who is also a local real estate agent, agreed that most commercial real estate signs are usually larger, “about 4 by 8 (feet),” she said. Local agent Tony D’Arcy was in favor of the new ordinance, saying “We’ve got some serious problems (with temporary signs). This city looks terrible today.” D’Arcy provided the council with photos of some “bad signs” he had noticed. “A 4 by 4 sign is plenty (big enough),” D’Arcy said. The council was in agreement with the updated ordinance and unanimously approved the first reading of the document. The ordinance will go through a second reading at the council’s next meeting on October 14th, where it could possibly be approved, and would then become effective 30 days from that date.