The Problem With Permitting
Vol. III, No. 167 - The City's Planning Commission retroactively approve a sign for a new business
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Recently, a restaraunt here in Troy changed things up; the former Speakeasy Miso, almost overnight became the 41 Grill and Draft House. And as the new restaurant flung open its doors, it swapped out the old business sign for a shiny new one—just as any business would, eager to announce its spot to hungry visitors. But here’s the wrinkle: that sign was put up before our esteemed Planning Commission at City Hall had a chance to approve it. The members of the commission was caught off guard and the mayor admitted that these sorts of retroactive approvals are pretty awkward.
To understand this minor discomfort, you first have to look at the rules around signs downtown. The city has actually done a good job laying out what’s okay and what’s not, especially downtown. The City’s Planning Commission and adopted a downtown design manual to help demonstrate what works downtown. Wall signs must liven up the street for people walking by. The letters should pop off the surface—a little three-dimensional flair is required—and internal lights are not allowed. If you want light on your sign, choose something gentle, outside the sign, so the building still shines brightest.
Any sign company that knows downtown Troy reads these guidelines and figures them out fast. Yet, even a sign that checks every box needs approval from the commission, seven members strong. Ostensibly, this commission isn’t there just to look at your drawings. They want to make sure the new sign fits—literally and figuratively—with the rest of downtown.
The question citizens should keep asking is simple: Why should someone who hires a professional, obviously knows the guidelines and makes things look good have to jump through so many hoops for a basic wall sign? Perhaps such a simple request can be done at the staff level? Or does the City’s Planning Commission just want to have a say in every single tweak to every Main Street building—even when it’s as routine as changing out one business for another?
It’s not hard to see how this slows things down for business owners. They bear the brunt of delays, more paperwork, more cost and maybe even embarrassment—all for doing something that the city’s own design manual says is perfectly fine. It’s like being stopped for using a crosswalk with the light on your side, simply because someone wants to double-check you know how to walk.
It’s worth looking at how this all fits with Troy’s bigger plans. City leaders are rewriting the city’s zoning and sign codes, calling it the Unified Development Code. The goal is to keep Troy in line with current laws and sync everything with the city’s new Comprehensive Plan adopted last year. This sounds promising. If the city truly wants what’s best for downtown, it’s a perfect time to ask: How can we make things better for building owners wanting to freshen up their properties without sacrificing the look and feel of historic Main Street? And do it in a way that truly emphasizes ease of use and limited expense for those making these investments?
Here’s hoping the new rules make it easier, not harder, for responsible owners to do straightforward projects. It shouldn’t take seven yes votes for a permitted sign done by the book. If city staff can’t be trusted to approve such small items, perhaps that’s where commission energy should go—in training, not in micromanaging every friendly new sign.
In the end, a vibrant downtown depends on trust, clarity, and partnership. If we redesign our system to focus more on those downtown business and property owners and less on bureaucracy, we’ll all be better off. The hope for Troy is not just new restaurants and new signs, but a renewed spirit of collaboration. That’s what civic capacity looks like downtown, one sign at a time.
Participate in our November Community Survey!
Back when this project was kicked off over two years ago, this newsletter was imagined as a helpful tool to not only help have our residents understand their community, but also to receive feedback and get ideas on how residents perceived where our hometowns was headed.
In order to achieve that goal, the decision was made to release a small survey that would ask residents their thoughts and feelings every two months. Every month seemed excessive, yet, once a quarter didn’t seem quite frequent enough. The idea was to help create a picture of the sentiment in the community and measure that sentiment over time.
So, throughout November, you can participate in our survey to give your thoughts and feelings on the direction of your hometown!
You can access the survey here:
Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!
A New Handbook to grow Civic Capacity!
Recently, we created a new digital handbook, “The Citizen’s Guide to Public Records”. This handbook is designed to help residents have a better understanding of public meetings and meeting records. It’s filled with templates, ideas and other information that will open a new world of public affairs.
Also, if you have ideas for future handbooks, please let us know at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.
Want to Learn More About Troy’s Businesses?
Our publication has recently released our September 2025 Economic Abstract, the most comprehensive and up-to-date report on the businesses and industries in the City of Troy. For those that want to understand our community’s business and industries, this is a must-have report.
Thank you to our New Media Partners!
Recently, many of our stories has been showing up on the local news website, www.mymiamicounty.com. We are grateful for the good folks for sharing our work with their audience and we would encourage our readers to check them out at their website!
Our publication would also like to recognize the good work being done at www.piquanewsnow.com. Piqua News Now is a new web-based news and information site for the Miami County area, with a specific focus on Piqua!
In addition, the good folks at Piqua News Now have started a new, 24-hour streaming YouTube channel. This channel is awesome with continuous weather updates and more importantly, it provides a 24-hour audio feed from county wide dispatch. Check it out here!
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