PL MINUTES 07311979 - Laserfiche WebLink

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T CITY OF ST. ANTHONY • PLANNING BOARD MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING July 31 , 1979 The meeting was called to order at 7 : 07 p.m. by Chairman Pro Tem Rymarchick. Present for roll call : Bjorklund, Jones , Sopcinski , Bowerman, Enrooth, and Rymarchick. Absent: Marks . Also present: Jim Fornell , City Manager Ron Berg, Administrative Assistant Before the Board began their review of the Comprehensive Plan, they were asked to consider a request of a signage variance for the pro- posed Sibley Catalog Showroom building at 3701 Stinson Boulevard. After a brief discussion concerning the legality of the considera- tion at a non-regularly scheduled meeting, it was agreed that the matter is an administrative procedure, legal , and that the Board would be willing to hear the request at this time due to a time element problem which it would otherwise cause Sibley in light of their proposed September 1 opening date. Mr. James Ruvelson of Ruvelson and Associates , a sign consultant firm, presented the proposal on behalf of Sibley. Also present was Donald S . Mears, representing Sibley Catalog. Mr. Ruvelson outlined the proposal which called for the utilization of two existing blank signs (facing north and east) and the erection of another sign to the west. The dimensions and square footage of these signs would be north 60x12=720; east 40x8=320 ; west 5x25=125 , for a total requested square footage of 1165 . In a July 25, 1979 memorandum to the Board, the Administrative Assistant stated the staff' s opinion regarding allowable square footage was 270 . Mr. Ruvelson cited the unique location of the building in question, and the fact that the floor area is 55,000 square feet, as miti- gating circumstances that should be considered in this variance proposal. He also stated the color scheme would be low key, i .e . , orange lettering on brown background. Mr. Ruvelson also stated that studies have shown that signage contributes up to 40 percent to a business and that should be considered in view of the depressed business history of this site. Mr. Jones was assured that with Sibley (along with Red Owl) the building would be fully occupied and therefore there would be no other requests for sign variances for this building.