PL MINUTES 05211985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-6- 1 Motion carried' unanimously. 2- 3 Chair Franzese reported Commissioner Bowerman had called her before the meeting 4 to explain that, because of his involvement in his firm's complication negotiations 5 with Powers, the Commissioner would not be able to make the meeting that evening. 6 7 Commissioner Madden indicated he had felt very badly about the vote on the Curtis 8 Mathes signage because he had not been convinced it had not been an "antibusiness" 9 vote, considering some ,of the excessive signage he had perceived around the City 10 lately. Because he had not yet received his Zoning Ordi.nance book, the Commis- 11 sioner said he did -not -understand just.why,gas stations were treated differently 12 than other City -businesses. He had- especially become concerned with the "junky" 13 signs hanging all over the Mico station at 37th and Stinson along with a "for 14 sale" sign in the window of an old car parked on the property corner. 15 - 16 Commissioners Hansen and Bjorklund responded by saying they believe the problem of - 17 sign proliferation around the City was a result of lack of enforcement of the 18 existing ordinances. Commissioner Hansen defended his vote to "support the 19 ordinance and the betterment of the community" against the claim it had been an 20 antibusiness vote and suggested that, if it is perceived that the City's Sign 21 Ordinance is driving business out of town, the ordinance • itself should be re- 22 examined. He reiterated that the Curtis Mathes dealer had come to the City "after- 23 the-fact" and had never really claimed his business would depend only upon the 24 larger sign which he had gotten as a part of the business franchise. The Com- 25 missioner drew attention to recent cases where signage had been denied to other 26 businesses like the radio shop on Lowry Avenue and the bakery on 37th Avenue N.E. , • 27 both of whom had insisted they couldn't operate their businesses without more 28 signage than the City allowed. 29 30 Commissioner Bjorklund indicated he was not downgrading the importance of advertis- 31 ing but he reiterated he knew of many instances where businesses with substantial 32 signage had gone out of business. The Commissioner said he perceived there was 33 a great potential for- abuse if the City continues to ignore the existing Sign 34 Ordinance. -35 36 The Chair indicated she agreed "120%" with these statements but perceived there 37 had been reasonable justification for aiding a potentially successful business to 38 stay in that center. Her concern was that if the City doesn 't foster stores who 39 c,an afford the high rents, the center would continue to deteriorate. 40 41 Commissioner Jones conceded that he had vacillated on the sign decision but said 42 in the end he had been convinced by Commissioners Hansen and Bjorklund's perception 43 that the sign would be excessively larger-than allowed by the ordinance, especially 44 as compared to the size of variances recently granted. The Commissioner indicated 45 he had also perceived Mr. Mortice had not really emphasized .the need for a larger 46 sign and at the end had even stated that he might put up the smaller conforming 47 sign just get identification. 48 49 Commissioner Bjorklund indicated he wanted to temper his recent complaints about 50 enforcement by complimenting the staff on the improvement of the appearance of the 51 Sroga property since the last meeting. 52 53 In response to the query from the moped dealer and the request from the Planning 54 Commission at the April 16th meeting to be provided copies of the Planning Com- 55 mission and Council minutes related to the Kokes,h Motorcycle Shop request to 56 establish motorcycle accessory sales as a conditional use for the City, Mr. Childs