PL MINUTES 11191985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-3- 1 Mr. Childs said he was not acting as a spokesman for the bank' s position, but 2 indicated he perceived there might be a difference between granting a sign for a 3 building which had no lit signs on. it, and for a grocery store, which already has 4 big red letters lit up to advertise their business. He said he understood the 5 bank had requested only a sign which architecturally would be of such a size that 6 it could be positioned close to the building where it would be the least detri- 7 mental to the overall appearance of the bank itself. Mr. Childs said he perceived g the bank's thinking had been that the City had already allowed TCF a much larger 9 sign to advertise the availability of. a 24 hour instant cash machine inside the 10 building, and to the Manager's way of thinking, the entire Midwest'Federal building 11 could be perceived to be a sign in itself which presented its own signage type 12 image just by its appearance (-tree shape) . The Manager also indicated he perceived 13 the bank had not tried to create an image like a McDonalds or Kentucky Fried . 14 Chicken for itself, but instead, had designed a sign they believed would fit 15 well into that neighborhood. 16 17 Commissioner Bjorklund told the Manager his comments, especially about the signage 18 image of Midwest Federal , which is uncommon for other financial institutions in 19 the City, had caused him to make a complete turnaround in his thinking related 20 to the requested signage. 21 22 Mr. Helgemo -responded to the presumption that instant cash service had become a 23 common part of the financial service all banks now offer, by saying not all net- 24 works are connected to Cirrus and the requested sign would be necessary to let 25 others than the bank's regular customers, who would know, that -their Cirrus bank 26 cards could be used at St. Anthony National Bank's automatic teller machine. • 27 The bank representative also stated that; considering what it costs to install 28 one of these signs,- he would doubt the City would see too many machines like it 29 popping up all over St. Anthony. 30 31 Commissioner Bowerman said he could appreciate both sides of the issue and indica- 32 ted his own impulses towards a decision were divided 50/50, because he certainly 33 recognized that the bank was an asset to the City because of the way they had 34 conducted business- and cooperated with the City over the years. However, the 35 Commissioner added, he still had not been convinced that, by granting the request, 36 a precedent might be established which could cause a loss of control over the 37 amenities of signage the City might want to retain for the new developments being 38 considered now, just. a short distance away down Kenzie Terrace. He was still 39 concerned that the practice. of permitting second free standing signs would be 40 established and, Commissioner Bowerman commented, he .did not perceive it to be 41 beyond the realm of reality that there might be a merchant like Lunds, who would 42 be willing to make the required investment in an ATM machine and thus request a 43 sim`il-ar 'sa'gn,.,ieCommissioner Wagner indicated that he perceived that a sign like the 44 bank is requesting, which is very low and recessed far back on the property, almost 45 on the building itself, could never be equated with a street sign. 46 47 Commissioner Bjorklund indicated he now had been convinced that there had been 4 g similar requests from other financial lending institutions in the City which had 49 been granted, and he said that although he disliked approving what could be con- 50 sidered as a precedent setting variance, , he saw there might be a possibility of 51 couching the language of a recommendation for approval in such a way that the 52 uniqueness of the circumstances surrounding this particular sign could be brought 53 out especially because the resultant sign would be so inoffensive as to its height 54 and its location on the property. 55