Tempe officials are debating whether they should overhaul the city's business sign process. After years of complaints, Vice Mayor Corey Woods said it's time to loosen rules and streamline the process.

Woods said the city's strict limits on height and colors make it tough for some businesses to attract customers.

"Sometimes I would hear even residents say, 'I don't even know what's really going on in the strip center because I'm driving past the thing and I'm not seeing anything creative or colorful,'" he said.

“It also wasn’t creating kind of a sense of place and space making because when you get to a certain area, you don’t really feel like there’s any atmosphere to it, in certain of these sort of 1980’s sort of beige, box strip centers.”

City officials are gathering input from residents, customers and business owners to make it easier for people to advertise while maintaining Tempe's character.

"Not trying to change the look and feel of the city and create something that looks like it's a casino town," Woods said. "But at the same time providing a little bit of extra color, a little bit more interesting signage and allowing business owners really to advertise more and draw people into their spaces."