10-26-2016 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Little Canada Planning Commission FROM: Jessica Jagoe, Associate Planner DATE: October 7, 2016 RE: Mama T’s Castle Tap – Sign Variance The owners of Mama T’s Castle Tap, Lynn and Troy Natus, located at 2490 & 2500 Rice Street are requesting a Variance to allow signage on their property in excess of that allowed by city code. Lynn and Troy Natus purchased the former Brady’s property in October 2015. The subject site consists of two parcels both of which are zoned B-3, General Business. The building sits at an east to west orientation almost entirely on the 2500 Rice Street parcel with a few parking spaces on the north side of the building. Then the majority of the parking for this site occurs on the southern parcel at 2490 Rice Street. In June, city staff had sent a letter to the Property Owner’s after the upper cabinet of the freestanding sign was replaced without a sign permit. City staff explained that the new sign face for Mama T’s Castle Tap with the all white background would not comply with the City’s Architectural Guidelines. The two options given to bring this sign into compliance were to either replace the upper panel using the reverse colors (i.e. dark background & light lettering) or use the existing panel, but alter it to create a white opaque background. Additionally, staff instructed them that whatever change was made to the panel needed to be done via the necessary permitting process. This letter prompted the discussions with Signart for overall signage allowed for this property and the redesign of the Mama T’s logo. During this review of signage for the property, city staff determined that some of the signage installed by Brady’s was done without a permit and therefore was illegal non-conforming. Brady’s had use of the freestanding sign, plus a wall sign on the building. That meant that Mama T’s Castle Tap with their alterations made to the signage needed to bring the total signage allowed into compliance with the code requirements. I should mention that the former Brady’s signage was in compliance with the architectural guidelines, but they exceeded the amount of signage allowed by almost double what would have been permitted. Therefore, Mama T’s Castle Tap was under the assumption that they would be allowed to have similar signage and that has led the applicant to the variance requested. Analysis The City sign code for the B-3 zoning states that the total sign area shall be calculated as fifteen (15) percent of the gross silhouette area of the front of the building. For determining the gross area of the silhouette of the principal building, the silhouette shall be defined as that area within an outline drawing of the principal building as viewed from the front lot line or from the related public street(s). With the east to west orientation, the frontage calculation along Rice Street for this property uses the narrower side of the building which measures 32’.6” wide and 15’4” high. In addition, there is a parapet on this wall that has two tiers. These are not continuous, but they are part of the building wall. Therefore, the parapet height has been added into the calculation to determine the gross silhouette of