10-08-09 Planning Comm. Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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exposure on the Rice Street side, the Demont Avenue side, and a share of the pylon signage. The proposed freestanding sign face is 63 square feet in area. From the overall 197 square feet, subtracting this amount leaves 124 square feet of wall signage. The applicant has noted that the pizza restaurant signs will be 36 square feet (2' by 18') on the front, and 20 square feet (2.25' by 8.75') on the Demont side. The sign making company currently has a 32 square foot wall sign on the Rice Street building wall, leaving a maximum of 36 additional square feet for the other sign. The applicant indicates that he will allocate signs to meet this requirement. Variance for Freestanding Sign Setback The pylon sign sits near the intersection of Rice and Demont, with a proposed setback from Rice Street of about seven inches from Rice Street and about 3 feet from Demont. The applicant is proposing a new sign cabinet due to damage to the original cabinet that was the result of the previous crash. As noted previously, the setback of the new base encroaches toward each street about 4 inches beyond the previous footing due to the addition of brick as a facing material rather than concrete. To approve a variance, the City must find that there are conditions on the property that create a hardship in making reasonable use of the property under the standard regulations. In this case, the applicant must argue that restoring the sign to its previous non-conforming condition is not practical, and that relocating the sign in its entirety to meet the 5 foot setback is not practical or feasible. The applicant has offered a number of reasons in support of his request, including: The location of the sign is within an existing Magellan pipeline easement. The pipeline company has indicated that moving the sign to meet the 5 foot setback would potentially interfere with the pipeline locations, and would not be approved. • The reconstruction of the sign permits the sign to be lowered to meet the City's freestanding sign height requirement of 16 feet, while falling within the allowable 66 square foot sign area for such signs. The reconstruction of the sign meets the intent of the City's regulations by improving the aesthetics of the sign to meet the City's architectural guidelines in two ways: o Creating a sign that does not provide form internally lit white sign background (the white background of the proposed sign will be opaque, allowing only the lettering to emit light). o The brick base better meets the preferred materials of the guidelines that does the previous concrete post base. o The brick permits the applicant to add landscaping/planting in the base structure. • Relocating the sign to meet the setback requirements would interfere with established parking and circulation on this existing site which cannot be altered without eliminating required parking spaces, and in some areas would continue to interfere with pipeline easement rights. 2