Must Won Lee sign on North Woodland Boulevard in DeLand go?

By Pat Hatfield and Barb Shepherd
BEACON STAFF WRITERS

posted Jul 24, 2008 - 9:45:36am

The day of reckoning is near for businesses whose signs don't meet the requirements of DeLand's law. For one restaurant owner, that's hard to swallow.

Seamus Poon looked up at the tall sign outside Won Lee Chinese Restaurant. He wants to keep it. DeLand officials say it's got to go, by May 17, 2009.

When the DeLand City Commission passed its new, stricter sign law in 1999, commissioners gave businesses 10 years to bring their signs into compliance. That decade of grace expires in May.

Won Lee's and Holiday House, two of DeLand's oldest restaurants, are among about 80 businesses that must do something about their signs.

The new law calls for the Won Lee sign to be no more than 16 feet tall. The existing sign is 24 feet, 4 inches.

True, the red behind the Chinese-style lettering on the Won Lee sign is fading and peeling a bit. Poon, co-owner of Won Lee's, along with William Lee and several other partners, wants to spruce up the sign. But, trying to hold his meal prices down in a tough economy, Poon can't afford to renovate the sign, especially if it will have to be torn down in a matter of months.

Poon and his partners inherited the tall sign when they bought the restaurant property at 1329 N. Woodland Blvd. in the late 1970s. For at least 20 years before that, the landmark had signaled the presence of the Boulevard Diner and, before that, Jack's Boulevard Diner.

The prospect of tearing down the sign bothers at least one member of the DeLand City Commission.

"Some of the character of DeLand is our old stuff," Commissioner Leigh Matusick said, when Poon came to talk about his sign at the July 9 City Commission meeting. "I think it's historic."

Matusick said it's a bad time to force businesses to spend extra money.

Commissioner Willie Bright pointed out, however, that there's a fairness factor; many businesses already have spent money to comply with the sign law.

Mayor Bob Apgar asked Community Development Director Dale Arrington and her staff to explore possibilities for granting Won Lee's a hardship exception, or a historic designation, or some other option.

Generations of West Volusia residents could find Won Lee's even if it had no sign, but Poon doesn't want to remove the restaurant's streetside symbol. It's a DeLand landmark, worthy of preservation, he said.

"Won Lee does not really need the sign, but it is an old sign," he said. "The sign was already here 30 years ago, when we moved in."

The sign could easily be 50 years old. It has the classic 1950s high-rise look to it.

Replacing the sign would cost a minimum of $20,000, Poon said. If, as Code Enforcement Officer Salli Combs and others at City Hall say, there is some grant money out there for signs, maybe Won Lee's could use some for re-painting and restoring the landmark, instead of replacing it.

Why, Poon asked, are tall billboards — which, after all, are really just big signs — allowed on Woodland Boulevard, when businesses like his are told their signs are too big?

Living and working the American dream

Seamus Poon is the first to agree with those who say his name is unusual.

Poon grew up in Hong Kong. He came to the United States 35 years ago, as soon as he finished college in Hong Kong, earning a degree in architecture. His parents already had moved to New York City.

Like many natives of Hong Kong, Poon took a first name that would come more easily to the tongues of the British who ran Hong Kong in those days. Many men took the name "James."

Poon wanted to stand out, even as a young man. He took the Irish version of James, which is Seamus. It's pronounced "SHAY-mus."

Learning that his architectural degree from Hong Kong wouldn't be honored in the U.S., Poon looked for other opportunities for a career in America.

He and William Lee came to visit DeLand in the late 1970s. They were alert to business opportunities, and when they looked for a place to eat, realized DeLand had no Chinese restaurant. They bought the former Boulevard Diner building, and Won Lee Chinese Restaurant opened on Feb. 14, 1978.

He and his family settled into DeLand. His daughter, Linda Poon, graduated from DeLand High School.

Poon said Won Lee's still is the only sit-down-and-order Chinese restaurant in DeLand. There are several carryout and buffet Chinese eateries in the area.

"We're serving local," Poon said, proud the restaurant caters to customers who count on the affordable prices. "We haven't changed prices on the menu in a long time."

Lunch plates run $4 to $5, and Poon wants to maintain those prices.

"A lot of businesses, especially restaurants, are going out of business," Poon said. "We want people to be able to go out and eat."

Signs of change

• DeLand passed new sign regulations in 1999. All new signs were required to meet the requirements of the new law. Existing signs were given a 10-year grace period to come into compliance. That grace period expires May 17, 2009.

• At the beginning of 2008, the City of DeLand code-enforcement staff surveyed signs in the city for compliance. Eighty-seven business owners were notified their signs had to change.

• Of the 87, 11 signs have come into compliance. Thirty-three business owners have not responded to the city's letter; 27 have called or visited City Hall to say they are working on bringing their signs into compliance; two of the properties with nonconforming signs are for sale; and three business owners have notified the city they do not intend to comply with the law. The rest of the nonconforming signs are being remeasured or checked for already-existing variances.

• With more than 3,000 businesses in the city, officials don't think their 2008 sign survey was complete; more illegal signs may still be discovered.

• After May 17, 2009, illegal signs will be referred to the city's Code Enforcement Department

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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