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 55- • • • Board of Sign Appeals November 21, 1988 Page 2 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 5C, • Board of Sign Appeals 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. 57