HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-11-21 Minutes•
MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SIGN APPEALS
A meeting of the City of Fayetteville Board of Sign Appeals was held on Monday,
November 21, 1988 at 3:45 p.m. in Room 111 of the City Administration Building,
113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Don Mills, Robert Davis, Gerald Boyd, Robert Waldren and
Dennis Becker
MEMBERS ABSENT:
OTHERS PRESENT:
MINUTES
Larry Tompkins and Dean Davenport
Robin Blackman, Ray Jones, Jim Atwell,Elaine Cattaneo, Becky
Schmidt and Freeman Wood
The minutes of the meeting on November 7, 1988 were approved as distributed with
one correction. Mr. Becker advised that on page 3 "Jerry McQue" should be "Gerry
McCue".
Mr. Becker referred to their discussion of the IBM building at the last meeting.
He advised that nothing has been done about the One -Way entrance and his
understanding is that it will continue to be used as a Two -Way access which is an
accident waiting to happen. He noted that the IBM representative had stated that
it is the landlord's problem to put up the One -Way sign and enforce it. Mr.
Becker stated that to him, safety in this case takes -precedence --over the Sign
Ordinance and they need to do something about it.
Chairman Mills stated that followup on judgments that they have made have been
rather slow or nonexistent. Mr. Becker stated that this is kind of a side issue
in a sense; it is not pertaining to an infraction of the City Sign Ordinance.
However, it is one of those side issues that is more important in terms of
safety. This is not designed to be an exit. Chairman Mills asked to whom should
they direct this to. Freeman Wood advised that they direct it to Perry Franklin,
the Traffic Superintendent. Chairman Mills stated that she would followup on
that this week.
SIGN APPEAL # SA88-17 - MCDONALD'S CORPORATION
ROBIN BLACKMAN - SE CORNER OF HOLLYWOOD & W 6TH ST
The first item on the agenda was a request for a variance to the Sign Ordinance
(Article 17B, Section 17B-9) submitted by McDonald's Corporation and represented
by Robin Blackman and located at the southeast corner of Hollywood and West 6th
Street. Property zoned I-1, Light Industrial & Heavy Commercial.
Robin Blackman, Real Estate Representative for McDonalds, stated that present
with her is Ray Jones (the operator of the new store), Carrie Steel (his
supervisor) and Jim Atwell (Construction Engineer). She noted that they propose
the sign location at the northeast corner of the property and propose a 30' tall
sign. She advised that McDonalds has a number of specific sizes for signs and in
some cities their standards sizes work well and some they don't. In this
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Board of Sign Appeals
November 21, 1988
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circumstance, their sign doesn't match Fayetteville's Sign Ordinance. The way
they measure the sign is the surface area itself and on this sign it would be 100
square feet. Therefore, they are asking for a variance from the 75 square foot
sign requirement. She added that the City of Fayetteville may measure this
differently.
Chairman Mills noted that they were given a drawing by their Sign Inspector,
Richard Wilson, which shows how he measures and he had measured this as 148 to
150 square feet. Ms. Blackman stated that she had talked to Mr. Wilson this
morning and he had explained to her that he counts the air under the arches in
his measurement and they didn't in their measurement.
Mr. Boyd asked how many standard sign sizes they had. Ms. Blackman answered that
they have three standard pole sign sizes with the sign in question being the
middle size. Mr. Boyd asked what the smaller sign measured. Ms. Blackman
answered that it measures 50 square feet according to their measurements.
Chairman Mills asked what the difference in size would be between the small sign
and the middle sign. Ms. Blackman advised that the dimensions of the middle one
would be 14' x 14' and the small one would be 10' x 10' with the height being 30
feet with either sign.
Mr. Becker asked how the sign size requested compared to the sign they have at
the existing McDonalds on Hwy 71. Ms. Blackman stated that it is the standard
small sign.
Jim Atwell stated that their basis for requesting the middle sized sign rather
than going with the small one is the fact that they will be located in the
Industrial zoning close to the 71 Bypass. This makes it a different situation
than being in a downtown area.
Mr. Boyd asked if the same requirements apply to the Industrial zoning. Freeman
Wood, Inspection Superintendent, stated that it is the same requirements for the
Industrial zoning as for Commercial zoning.
Becky Schmidt, the Planning Clerk, stated that John Merrell was unable to attend
the meeting but he had asked her to give his staff report. She noted that Mr.
Merrell didn't feel that there was a hardship in this case; therefore, he did not
recommend approval of the request. He suggested that a smaller sign such as the
one at the existing McDonald's on Highway 71 would be more appropriate.
Mr. Becker asked if the smaller sign would satisfy the City requirements. Mr.
Wood stated that he wasn't sure whether it did or not. However, he felt that if
they left out the holes (air space) in the sign, it would meet the requirements.
Ray Jones stated that he purchased the store on Highway 71 about three years ago
and it was his understanding that there was a larger sign there at the time and
they went to the smaller size sign because of the Sign Ordinance.
Mr. Boyd noted that the City has gone to a great deal of trouble getting signs
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November 21, 1988
Page 3
reduced and more uniform.
Chairman Mills asked if anyone else in the audience wanted to speak to this.
Ms. Blackman asked if they would consider the smaller sized sign if they have
trouble considering the one being requested to provide them with two options.
Chairman Mills answered yes. Mr. Wood stated that the Board of Sign Appeals
would probably not have to consider the smaller sign because it would most likely
meet the ordinance requirements.
Ms. Blackman noted that the square footage of the smaller sign including the air
underneath the arch is going to be 82.8 square feet. It would be 50 square feet
the way McDonalds measures it. Mr. Wood stated that he wasn't sure he agreed
with including the air when measuring the sign. He noted that in this particular
situation, in his opinion, they should leave the air space out when they measure
it.
Chairman Mills stated that they had planned on a discussion with John Merrell
today on how signs are measured because there is a little bit of confusion about
it. However, Mr. Merrell is ill.
Chairman Mills noted that the middle size sign would still be too large even when
excluding the air space.
The public part of the hearing was closed and discussion took place among the
Board members.
Mr. Boyd stated that he agrees with the staff that there is no more hardship here
than the competitor on the other side of the street had and they were made to
change their sign a couple of months ago. Mr. Waldren agreed.
MOTION
Boyd moved to deny the request as submitted, but approve the smaller sign
designated as 50 square feet, seconded by Davis. The motion to deny passed 4-0-
0.
OTHER BUSINESS
Chairman Mills advised that Deane Davenport is going to be relocating back to
Iowa because of the illness of his wife who has developed multitudes of allergies
after having moved down here. Therefore, he has submitted his resignation. She
noted that she took the resignation to Suzanne McWethy, the City Clerk, and she
will advertise the vacancy.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
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