About 120 Salem Road business owners and residents gathered Thursday night to voice concerns over changes to the Rockdale County sign ordinance in a town-hall setting with county commissioners.

The changes are part of efforts to coordinate the county's sign regulations with the city of Conyers' sign regulations, said county officials.

Chief among the concerns were restrictions on banners and temporary signs. Several business owners want to place signage outside to provide information that will grow their businesses - such as sales information and open-house signs, which are currently prohibited. Another heated topic was the issue of code enforcement, which those in attendance said seemed to be "selective" along Salem Road.

The two commissioners present for the meeting, Oz Nesbitt and JaNice Van Ness, urged everyone to submit their concerns via email as soon as possible so that all issues will be considered during the adjustment period before the final version is adopted in coming weeks, possibly as soon as April 24.

"What we need to do as community leaders is to upgrade code enforcement," Nesbitt said. "No matter what we put in place, it doesn't work if the enforcement is selective. Thanks for coming out. These people are the fabric of our community. We have to take care of our business owners. And I guarantee you that I will meet with the staff to reinforce code-enforcement."

Residents were also allowed to submit concerns regarding the Salem Road Overlay Corridor, which was adopted in 2004 and was developed to make the two-mile corridor south of I-20 to Surrey Trail more uniform.

The resounding sentiment from those in attendance was the need to widen the road to ease traffic congestion and encourage new businesses to move to the area. They said the current infrastructure doesn't support growth and existing businesses are struggling.

Conyers resident Sue Chappell, who worked with the administration that adopted the original SROC, spoke about the importance of the SROC but also supported the need to consider infrastructure.

"The area you see today looks a whole lot better than it did 10 years ago. A great example is the building we are in (Peachtree Academy on Ellington Road). We understood it would take 10 to 20 years to see the real benefits of the plan," Chappell said. "Newton County is working to do the same, and their standards will be even higher. You must enforce the ordinance before you start changing it. We need to recruit quality developers who have vision. Until Salem Road has four lanes there isn't the road infrastructure for bigger development. Get it straight first-put in the infrastructure and then the rest will follow."

According to Rockdale County Director of Transportation Miguel Valentin said, at this time there is no funding for the widening of Salem Road, which is a state highway, and it has been allocated in the state's Transportation Improvement Program. But according to Jill Goldberg, Deputy Press Secretary with the Department of Transportation, funds are being identified to add to the TIP.

The estimated cost to widen the 2-mile stretch of Salem Road into four lanes was about $43 million, according to a 2011 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.