10-08-2001 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 7B Meeting Date: October 8, 2001 Type of Business: CB WK: Work Session; PH: Public Hearing; CA: Consent Agenda; CB: Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Consideration of Resolution 5627, a Resolution Approving a Development Review for an Expanded Billboard on City-Owned Land, 2373 County Highway 10, and Discussion of Proposed Purchase Agreement for an Expanded Easement Date of Report: October 4, 2001 Background: Chris McCarver, representing Clear Channel Outdoor, owner of the billboard located on city-owned land on the north side of County Highway 10, is requesting approval of a development review to permit an expansion of the billboard from 300 square feet to 672 square feet. Clear Channel owns a permanent lease for the 40’ by 40’ square plot upon which the sign is located. To expand the sign, an additional easement or lease area would need to be negotiated. The property is the former Midland Videen land that the City acquired through its land swap with TOLD Development Company. The property on which the sign is located is zoned PUD, Planned Unit Development. The applicant has submitted color overhead and side-perspective renderings of the expanded billboard, which are attached for the Councils review. Discussion: According to the City’s recently adopted Sign Code, the billboard is considered a legal, nonconforming sign. Section 1008.13, Subd. 1 of the Sign Code states the following: “Structural alterations, enlargement or re-erection are permissible only where such alterations would not increase the degree of the nonconformity of the sign.” City staff, supported in opinion by the City Attorney, interprets this to indicate that the sign can be enlarged because the degree of nonconformity remains unchanged with an expansion. The nonconformity is based not on the size of the sign or its setback, but rather its location. It is nonconforming ONLY because it is not located north of new Highway 10. The zoning is proper and the size would be in compliance. (Billboards are only permitted in a PF or PUD zoning district, up to 700 square feet, not to exceed 35 feet in height.) As part of the expansion, Clear Channel proposes significant landscape improvements around the site and would bury the electric service, thus allowing for the removal of a utility pole. The expansion would include the construction of a rock and brick base to add an aesthetic enhancement to the corridor, in a fashion similar to the base of the new Walgreens sign and that of Wynnsong Cinema. Purchase Agreement: