Grand Blanc Gas Station's Breast Cancer Gesture Could Mean Fines

Driving through Downtown Grand Blanc along Saginaw Street, you may have noticed all of the pink ribbons adorning lamp posts. That's in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month which has been around since 1985.

Driving further down Saginaw Street to the intersection at Perry & Bush, you'll notice a gas station painted in Pink -- to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. The city of Grand Blanc just told the owner, in so many words, to paint the building back to an approved color or pay a $500 daily fine and possibly 90-days in jail!

Mobil Gas Station Grand Blanc Mi - Photo Nathan Reed

Owner of the Mobil gas station, Adam Teer, told ABC 12 "I was thinking it was positive and it was the opposite. I was shocked, even when they knew it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month."

There's a Downtown Grand Blanc "Design Manual" for architectural guidance (both business and residential). I decided to read through the manual looking for the aforementioned approved paint colors and didn't find anything other than this from page 18 of that manual:

All vents, gutters, down spouts, flashing, electrical conduits, soffits, etc. shall be painted to match the color of the adjacent surface, unless it is being used expressly as a trim or accent element.

Perhaps there's another ordinance playbook not easily found on the Grand Blanc city government site? I did find a 12-page Ordinance for signage related to businesses and business property. Still, nothing about specific building paint colors, there. Further, Part 14 of the Codified Building Ordinance has 8 mentions of "Paint" in that document, again, only related to signage. (Sidebar suggestion, perhaps add a rule to make sure businesses maintain their signs -- you know when they're missing letters or partially burned out? That seems more annoying to me than support of Breast Cancer Awareness.)

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All cities have ordinances and guidelines -- I'm not arguing against those. My point is -- City of Grand Blanc, please direct us toward / spell out the approved paint colors while attempting to enforce this ordinance. I'll happily update my story to include the rules. Until we know all business owners actually know the approved paint colors--let's tamp down the $500 daily fine or 90 days in jail penalties!

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