Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

I know yeah me too what's a year I do no Tennessee right but they're looking to perhaps move he's got he's with the super and those trips aren not like now assigned to the Army to do investig La see you ready yep all right we are going to call the March 5th 2025 Board of zoning appeals meeting to order um the first order business would be Miss PL please call the role call the order Miss Cunningham here Mr Percy here Mr O'Quinn here Mrs ramire Mr Smith here Mr Adams here Mrs Gant here we do have a quorum with one extra yay all right so then the first order of business is um 2025 no swearing in of new members yay that is not on my I just sent the revised agenda out this morning to add the swearing I didn't have time for that today sorry all right would our new members join Mr BR do you need him down front right no they can come down front come come on down and he'll if you haven't been sworn in yet please come down SW in or sworn out sworn well would be the first meeting that happen all right so of course someone will always say

enter my own name our best to our best yes I swear swear upon uh entering office upon entering office I will Faithfully honestly and impartially iarge to the city of M Veron the city of state of Ohio State ofio give your permanent place and that until you until when you decide to leave yeah yep seems like that's you you just keep coming back good I do kind of like warts congratulations both of you thank you all right we official yep all right so the next item before us is 2025 election of chairperson we'll do should we do chairperson or vice chairperson first I'll nominate both together I'd like to nominate Michael to be chair and Chris o Quinn to be Vice chair second oh man wow Ambush fast please call the roll or actually we got to see if there are any other additional let me write this down wow cutting him is shocking off I think this is what happened the

last time very similar yeah but Susie's not here they over here sandbagging us what is happening well because the last time she didn't do that she became vice chair okay all right you can't miss any meetings I can't say no all right um but I can nominate well are there any other nominees um any other nominations before us if not I'd be I'd move to have the nominations all right nominations are closed Miss blank please call the rooll Miss Cunningham yes Mr Percy can I stain sure yes Mr oquinn yes Mr Smith yes Mr Adams yes see there you go vot of confence with that we have elected our 2025 chair and vice chair um once again as shocked as always um I keep trying I've been trying for several years um you need to do a bad job all right um the next item before us is approval of the November 20th 2024 Board of zoning appeals minutes um is there a motion to approve the minutes so motion we have a motion to approve is there a second second we have a motion and a second all in favor say I I oppose same sign with that the November 20th 2024 Board of zoning appeal minutes are approved I just want to noted I missed it that meeting because I was on vacation so it in it was one of the highlights of the Year for me all right so the um case before us today is 2025

bc-04 935 kakon Avenue of variance for a second freestanding sign is there a proponent of the variance request before us please come up and be sworn in there's a card there just read um card my name is Matthew Lynn my address is 2669 National Road Zanesville Ohio I affirm that my testimony is truthful to the best of my knowledge and ability so help me God or under penalty of perjury can he might get closer to the mic I can't hear him all right um need to you don't need to repeat the oath what um all right what are we hoping to achieve today um take five um I'm sorry I'm with Kesler Sign Company on behalf of take five um we are under the assumption that we are here for a variance to obtain a road sign for the second freestanding sign so so this yeah this this particular um location is on a parcel that involves multiple Lo businesses um and so that typically has a um a group sign or what it's I'm sorry it's a directory sign like this and so that is what is normally given to a parcel with multiple businesses on it so what you're asking for is a variance to have a freestanding sign separate than the um directory sign that is already available is that correct correct okay all right um anything any additional details you'd like is is that the only variance that everything else fits with inside the code yes okay so it's the variance for the second sign um does anyone have any

questions for him I do just quickly so where are we planning to locate it I I think I mean it's just to the right of the driveway before on to the I guess looking at it it would be to the left of your building right and to the right of the driveway so we kind of looked back um ourselves and the client um there used to be an old Long Long John Silver sign there and we're proposing to put it in that same general general area where the old one was okay the Long John Silver sign predated code so sure right yeah right and it was removed some time ago wasn't it yes when they vacated the premises okay all right okay all right any other questions um for him are there any other proponents of the proposed variance request before us are there any opponents of the proposed variance request before us Mr car please come up and be sworn in my name is Don Carr my address for Upland Terrace I affirm that my testimony is truthful to the best of my knowledge and ability so help me God or under penalty of perjury thank you Mr chairman and welcome to the new members another Baron family member now uh seeking community service thank you for being here um you explained the property well although it doesn't show in the application just for edification that whole Corner northeast corner is owned by one property owner other than the bank yeah for the bank and the uh drive-thru yeah uh so you're absolutely right there are buffalo wings and Marshalls and three other businesses that are in a strip mall there there are

also two other businesses in another freestanding building on that property cage Jewelers and uh Cross Creek Dental uh so now we're looking at a third uh building to be placed on that property uh it should be noted that K K's jewelry and Cross Creek Dental do not have any signage on the Frontage of kakon uh three other businesses east of the proposed uh site are uh Tim Horton and um Advantage Auto and another building behind that uh I don't know who they are contact us is on the building uh Tim Horton and Advanced Auto share only one U Monument sign on that property the other back property doesn't have any signage further east Starbucks is a standalone building uh it has zero none Frontage Monument type signage uh Valley Plaza behind Starbucks with six tenants share one Monument sign these are just examples there are many examples of businesses in M Veron with limited uh Street signage that are flourishing here in town um The Narrative provided in the application kind of indicates at least how big this sign is we we know it's going to be 10 feet tall its base is going to be 30 feet I'm sorry 30 in in dimension it'll be the S top of the will be 24 ft 24 in wide uh I take it unless

somebody sees differently that it'll be two- sided and it'll be illuminated in interior uh type LED internally internal thank you what did I say interior thank you um and it'll be 84 in in depth from the street toward the back of the property uh pretty pretty significant size size Monument sign I think we have to agree in the in the application It also says that that uh take five oil change will uh be disadvantaged compared to the uh neighboring business as I just pointed out to you number of businesses in that area don't even have any signage so it's um also going uh further down states that the monument 10- foot Monument sign will complement existing signage and I think it's fair to say that most people in Mount Vernon would say that that sign certainly is not going to complement much of anything um last year excuse me last month the city already approved building wall signage of 70.3 Square ft so there's three signs that are already going up with the largest one being 6t by 5 foot so there's no question when people drive by this building that there's a fear that they won't know what that building represents uh allowing the variance for a second Monument business sign on the street Frontage of the property will create a precedence that would allow other businesses on kakon and in other General business districts to have more

or freestanding signs what if K Jeweler comes to you and asks for a street sign since they don't have one when our city leaders on city council adopted the new zoning code last year I believe they were trying to limit freestanding signs to one per property in general business district I ask that you deny the application for this variance for a second sign on the front treat Frontage thank you thank you all right are there any other opponents of the proposed varage request before us please be sworn in yes um my name is Gary Kester and my address is 24 Eastgate Drive I affirm that my testimony is truthful to the best of my knowledge and ability so help me God are under penalty of perjury I want to speak against this application for a second sign not too long ago the city spent over $80,000 and uh a lot of manh hours to develop a new city code city council approved it unanimously and the intention is to further develop our community so it has more attractive and has some uniformity in the business districts besides the residential districts

um I don't think it's it's appropriate for uh us to amend this intention to uh conform and and develop kakon into a more uh friendly atmosphere than what it has been I've lived here for 20 years and it's there's been a gradual cluttering and and of kakon Avenue and the business district there and uh I don't believe that this signage is necessary or appropriate for the intentions that we trying to do to uh develop a community that is more attractive than in the projectory that is has had in the past um if uh could you show the uh the footprint of the property again yeah let me just point out that this is an exit driveway that would leading this parking lot going on to kotton people who approach the kashton from here are going to have to look look East or up kashton in order to to uh go on to Kon this sign is going to be a prohibit or interfere with their ability to see the traffic coming in that direction I think that is also a [Music] problem well I think that's all I have I just think it's in the interest of our

city to implement the code that we have be consistent with it uh I know a lot of us spent a lot of time reviewing the code and it's a big code and uh it is a bit complicated but I think this is pretty straightforward and I think by denying this application this business will conform to all the other businesses that are located on this parcel thank you thank you now are there any other opponents of the proposed variance request before before us is there any written or verbal communication regarding the proposed Vance request before us I did not receive any outside Communications but I do have a staff report all right dated March 4th 2025 for case 2025 bza 01 935 kton Avenue parcel number 66- 04268 the subject property is zoned GB General business district there are three separate structures on the parcel occupied by numerous tenants there is an existing freestanding multi-tenant sign on the parcel city code section 11 13.08 A2 allows for one freestanding sign along each public Frontage per property public Street Frontage per property city code section 11 13.08 A6 gives the responsib ability to the property owner to determine the messaging on the freestanding sign when it serves multiple tenants or uses a review of other commercial properties around the city with multiple structures and or entities did not reveal any other Parcels with more than one freestanding sign all right thank you Miss blanken

Horn and um all right I would entertain a motion regarding the so just kind of for those the new members I'll just kind of so we the motion we try to make the motion in the affirmative even if you may want to vote no you still would you typically would make the motion to approve and then we vote vote how you want to vote but it is or have you that worked out that in the system they have not the the way the syst this and it's just kind of a refresher the city's Code system computer doesn't really allow them to we can't do something in the negative it has to be in the affirmative and then we can then either vote for it or against it but we have to make the motion to either approve or amend it but we it can't really deny it in the motion we go back at it from the other way so just kind of it's weird I know to always do something in the affirmative but that is the way that their system works so I just like to kind of so um typically what we do is um we have the motion in a second and then we if we want discussion or if we have additional questions we would do it after the motion is seconded so that that's our point if we have no additional questions or discussions then we could then then that's when we would go to a vote so I just like to kind of since we have several new people I like to just kind of go over the Rules of Engagement so to speak so with that said I would entertain a a motion regarding the proposed variance request before us a motion uh you make a motion to accept the variance as presented all right we have a motion is there a second second we have a motion and a second any discussion I think it warrants discussion okay all right think so speak

up in the mic because she has to record the minute absolutely so I feel that there are several issues that probably weren't discussion on this um as it is would be um according to the staff report um that last sentence is pretty pretty pertinent I think it would be the only structure in the city M that we would allow um I think that could potentially um maybe create some issues for us down the road um just in It's just in general right um potentially even on that same property um correct I wonder why instead of a new sign um take five didn't discuss altering the ex in Monument that was there instead so the existing is I would say the existing is a poll sign and I don't know if would they be able to amend that existing sign short of making the panel smaller and I'm not right I I'm not I don't know because it is a poll sign and what's happened is our new code um does now prevent poll signs so if they were to make major modifications they would have to most likely amend that but that's not our problem that is up to the building owner to make that decision and work with engineering to determine that whether that would still be acceptable so that would be what I would say to that so um but just for clarification so our previous code had allowed poll signs which that would be considered a poll sign um and we're actually well some time ago yeah actually the the most recent several code iterations did not allow poll signs they've all been grandfathered in which is why a lot of the building owners work very hard to keep their poll signs because once it falls down you can't put it back up correct correct so we we are trying to have a consistent approach in the community related to signs we um prefer not to have po signs anymore they're

only a handful still out there I've I almost negotiated one a few years ago away but they weren W weren't going to bite so so Aldi still has their poll signs but um so that would so that they should coordinate that would be the appropriate approach would be corre and and I will point out that Huntington does not have a sign a monument or a post sign of any shape they only signage which would be next door is only on the building so um all right any additional yeah if I could make a comment um the last gentleman who is up um I think pretty much laid it out you the city took a long time in redoing the zoning um when I was law director we we were kind of burdened with the with the code that we had and uh I know you know it was back in what 2006 when when these modifications were made it appears to me that uh we don't want to slip back they spent a lot of time on the code they spent a lot of time determining uh how many signs on a property and how you how big these signs would be so I intend to vote no on it because I think that the uh we have to enforce the zoning code it's a new code and we we should follow what the the city council's desires and they desire to redo the zoning code they did and and my additional input would be that they spent a lot of time looking at what other communities codes were and really trying to have a code that not only reflected Our Community Values but those in in number of neighboring community so that it was consistent and not just us standing out here on our own screaming so right so that would be my input all right um any other discussion as someone who's not voting tonight am I part of the discussion or should I focus on listening I think she can discuss she

just can't vote right you can allow you can choose to allow her to discuss to discuss the chair can give you have one question it because it was asking for a second sign for clarification their sign would not go on the poll sign at all well they could that's up to them to work with the property owner um so the so that whole thing is one parcel Marshalls be UPS all that's one parcel so the owner of that parcel is not take five the owner of the parcel is the management company owns all of those so it would be up to the tenant take five to negotiate with their property owner to determine what's appropriate just like K and Cross Creek they're not on the sign if they wanted they should negotiate with the property owner that's their discussion got the property owner that then could make revisions to the sign based on code at that time thank you all right all right I said we have new people so we're trying to walk it through a little longer than we do normally you'll find a couple meetings in on pretty quick but and not always as informative so all right anything else if not I have we'll have Miss blankin Horn call the role Miss Cunningham no Mr Percy no Mr O'Quinn no Mr Smith no Mr Adams no all right with that uh 20125 b-04 is denied as requested is there any additional business before us today since I didn't print the latest copy of the agenda I do not have anything all right with that I would entertain a motion to adjourn I move that we adjourn is there a second I'll second that we have a motion a second we are adjourned I know try thank you all for your time

yeah my yeah why didn't you vote I'm oh I got okay