PL MINUTES 05211985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-2- > 1 the center, which Mr. Fox had told him had been sent to the center's owners in • 2 Portugal for permission to go. ahead.with the $300,000 improvement--program, but 3 which had not received their approval . Mr. Mortice confirmed-that Mr. Fox had 4 also told him about the proposed upgrading of the center's signage and the store 5 owner said he would be willing to replace the sign on his store at that time with 6 whatever signage the center demands *of its tenants. He had a much larger Curtis 7 Mathes sign on his store in the Coon Rapids Shopping Center, Mr. Mortice said, and 8 he had been the first tenant to conform to the uniform signage requirements of g that landlord. 10 11 Mr. Mortice told the Commissioners his partner had misquoted Mr. Childs' assessment 12 of their original sign request at their April 16th meeting and under questioning 13 by the Chair and Commissioner Hansen, the Curtis Mathes .dealer confirmed that the 14 $5,000 sign he wanted to erect on -the store had been a part of the. $10,000 Curtis 15 Mathes franchise cost and=not a condition under which the :franchise was ,granted. 16 However, Mr. Mortice said, he wasn't sure whether he could trade the .large sign 17 for a smaller one. 18 19 The minute he gets approval for a Curtis Mathes sign on his building, the- store- 20 he store 20 manager said he would be taking down the "ugly 990 Video" sign on the frontof the 21 the because, "we don't need it". He did nevertheless insist that the store 22 needed the franchise identification because many customers and- even truck drivers 23 have indicated they had difficulty finding his establishment. Mr. Mortice indi- 24 cated he would welcome any plan to upgrade the signage on the rest of the stores 25 in the shopping center and told the Commissioners several other store owners near 26 him had indicated they were going to start improving their own business establish- 27 stablish-27 ments after seeing the improvements he had made. 28 29 Commissioner Jones indicated he perceived there might be extenuating circumstances 30 which could .be considered in recommending approval of the requested signage includ- 31 ing the possibility that the Sign Ordinance might present a hardship for this 32 particular store which is extremely narrow and deep where-the ordinance bases 33 signage size on only the store frontage. However, the Commissioner would like 34 to have it stipulated that the variance would only be granted on the condition 35 that the store owners agreed to replace that signage with the type of signage the 36 center might require for all the stores sometime in the near future. 37 38 There was no one present to speak against the proposal and the hearing was closed 39 at 8:00 P.M. for a decision by the Planning Commission. 40 41 Motion by Commissioner Madden and seconded-by Commissioner Wagner to recommend the 42 Council grant a variance to the Sign Ordinance for a 100 square foot sign (5 ' X 20 ' ) 43 where only a 54 foot sign would be allowed by ordinance to identify the- store at 44 2908 Pentagon Drive as a Curtis Mathes Home Entertainment Center, finding that the 45 store's frontage does not accurately reflect the square footage for that building 46 which i.s extremely narrow and deep and that the owner had agreed to take down the 47 existing 990 Video Center signage on the store and replace it with the Curtis 48 Mathes sign which better conforms to the standards for quality sought in the 49 Sign Ordinance. 50 51 Before the vote on the motion was taken, Commissioners Hansen and Bjorklund stated • 52 the reasons they would be voting in opposition to the motion. .Commissioner Hansen 53 said he perceived the City would be setting a dangerous precedent for future sign- 54 age in the Center by permitting this store so much more sign square footage than 55 established for a store frontage this size. The Commissioner indicated he doubted