BETHEL — Most of the 40 people attending a 60-minute public hearing Wednesday night at the town office agreed that the town’s sign ordinance needs fixing.

Only a few said it wasn’t worth amending and needs to be repealed, which is the current question before town meeting voters on June 13, unless selectmen reconsider it at their meeting on June 4.

“There’s consensus in this room, obviously, that however thick it is, it’s a terrible drag on business,” Selectman Don Bennett said.

“It’s cumbersome, it is terribly hard to follow, inflexible, and I just want everybody here to understand one thing — this board is entirely with you, and I believe I’m speaking for everyone here, but I’ll speak for myself and say we want to fix it.”

Bennett said he’s been on Bethel’s Ordinance Review Committee and a debate needs to happen to get the ordinance amended.

“It has to happen in some form that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck or nothing’s going to happen again,” he said. “This is business-oriented all the way, it’s about signage to get people to come and make you money, and all of that.”

He said selectmen can’t do it alone and must be helped by the business community.

“It’s for you and you can draft a lot of this,” Bennett said. “Give us your ideas.”

Earlier, business owners did just that, along with gripes about the ordinance being the toughest thing to deal with in Bethel.

Ross Timberlake, who owns Timberlake and Co., a wooden furniture manufacturing business on Route 2, said the ordinance restricts the size of his sign due to other rules.

“Where I’m situated, my sign can only be so big because of the speed limit,” Timberlake said.

“My feeling about it is my sign should be a little bit bigger, because if people are going 65 mph by my business, my sign should be a little bigger, and if we’re not enforcing the speed limit, how can we enforce a sign ordinance?”

He said there are many more inequities in the ordinance and that it should be totally overhauled.

“People happen to see my sign when they’re pulling out of the Roosters (Roadhouse restaurant), or driving in the breakdown lane by my house and they happen to see my sign,” Timberlake said.

He said he agrees with businessman Ron Savage, who prompted the hearing when, with his brother Rick Savage, they drafted a petition that asked voters if they wanted to abolish the sign ordinance.

Previously, Ron Savage said the petition was prompted by the inability of he and his brother to adequately advertise their restaurant, The Black Diamond Steakhouse. It’s on Sunday River Road, a mile from the intersection with Route 2.

Under the current sign ordinance, Savage said they can’t capture enough customers from the Route 2 traffic flow with signage allowed by the ordinance.

Timberlake said a common sense approach needs to be used rather than abolishing the ordinance.

“No one wants to see a gazillion signs,” he said.

Steve Etheridge, who owns Roosters Roadhouse, agreed with Timberlake.

He said the idea has been discussed in the past to develop directional signage that tells prospective customers what Bethel has to offer for all businesses. But nothing was ever done with it because no one wanted to spend the money.

Keith Savage, who runs a garage with his sons 7/10ths of a mile from the Mallard Mart gas station and convenience store, said he can’t have a directional sign.

“My son would like to be open on weekends, but there’s no sense because nobody knows we’re out there,” he said.

Woody Hughes, who owns the Mill Hill Inn, said he came to Bethel from Long Island and wants the sign ordinance reworked.

“Throwing it out frightens me,” he said.

Gary “Bo” Bowdin who runs a home inspection business from his house, said he’s trusting people to have common sense, but worries about “their moments of fleeting insanity” for wanting to abolish the sign ordinance altogether.

Nancy Gionet equates proper signage for Bethel businesses with attracting customers “to grow jobs for people in these hard economic times.”

Selectmen Chairman Stan Howe urged them to attend the June 4 board meeting.

[email protected]