Despite removing sign, Flip’s owner still feuding with city

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Less than a week after Flip’s Bar-B-Que took down its half-century-old sign to comply with a city ordinance, the small business is facing another issue with the city.

“On Tuesday, I get a call from the Zoning Department asking me if I had a permit to take my sign down,” said Flip’s Bar-B-Que owner Bob Church.

Church says a city code enforcement officer told him he needed clearance to remove the sign. Church says he’s confused.

“I had to pay to have the sign taken down, and they made me take the sign down, so therefore I don’t know where they’re coming from,” Church said.

Church says he cannot believe the city is finding another reason to penalize his small business.

“The amount of stress I’ve been under for the last two weeks has been crazy,” he said. “Like the president said last night (and) Gov. Romney: small businesses need to get the country going, and here they are beating the daylights out of us trying to ruin us, and I don’t understand that. What’s going on?”

We spoke with the company that removed the sign Friday. A representative said he has taken down many signs because of the ordinance and has never heard of having to have a permit to do the work.

We tried to contact the code enforcement officer and other representatives with the city, but they have not called us back with any answers.

Last week more than 1,000 people voted in an unscientific online poll on our website. Ninety-one percent of them said Flip’s should not have had to take down its sign.