MINUTES OF THE
MEETING OF THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS,
WHICH TOOK PLACE
ON TUESDAY,
AT 6:30 P.M., IN
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL,
MIDLAND, MICHIGAN
1. ROLL
CALL
PRESENT: Board Members - Green, Higgins, Holthof, Siemer, and
Steele
ABSENT: Board Members – Lichtenwald
OTHERS PRESENT: Daryl Poprave, Cheri King, and 7 others.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
It was moved
by Higgins and supported by Siemer to approve the minutes of the
The Chairman explained the public hearing procedures and how the Board decides if the variance request is approved based on the five ordinance criteria.
3. PUBLIC HEARINGS
a.
No. 08-01 – George Swaney on behalf of Amish Reflections, Inc. for an area/dimension
variance to exceed the maximum allowable square footage for a wall sign at
Mr. Poprave showed an aerial photograph of
the circle area. The property is located
east of Jefferson and northeast of
Higgins asked about the additional 15 sq. ft.
of signage that has been proposed. There
is no picture of that sign in the ZBA packet.
They are allowed 40 sq. ft. of signage.
It is up to the business how they want to divide that up and where they
want to place that signage. Mr. Poprave
showed what an 80 sq. ft. sign will look like on the building.
George Swaney, 2727 W. North Union, is the
petitioner. They are requesting to
increase the size of their sign from 40 sq. ft. to 80 sq. ft. and then add an
additional 15 sq. ft. on the rear of the building. If they box in the signage, they are looking
at in excess of 120 sq. ft. of sign. On
the back side, all the signs were in place when they purchased the
building. There was a total of 66.5 sq.
ft. of signage on the back of the building.
Add that to the signage on the front of the building and they are in
excess of 200 sq. ft. Looking around the
Circle, Mr. Swaney sees many businesses that have in excess of 40 sq. ft. of
signage. They have the largest building
on the Circle. It was
the opinion of the sign company that a 49 sq. ft. sign was not in
proportion to the building, nor would it provide the visibility they needed for
their business. They went from 10”
letters to 12” letters. They also put
together a sign that was 106 sq. ft. and one that was 120 sq. ft. that fit the
current sign area. Mr. Swaney felt these
signs were much too big. They would like
to have letters across their canopy in the rear of the store.
Green asked Petitioner to review his responses
to the five criteria. The Petitioner
stated strict compliance with the ordinance does not provide the visibility
they think they need for that building at that location. The variance will do substantial justice to
the owner as well as the Circle business area in Midland. The variance requested is the minimum
variance needed to provide the visibility needed due to the uniqueness of the
circle area itself. The unique circumstances
are the fact that it is the circle area.
In the Downtown you have a lot of foot traffic and the speed limit is 25
mph. The Circle area has a much faster
speed limit and you do not have the foot traffic that you do downtown. They are asking for only 15 sq. ft. of
signage for the back of the building, much less than the prior tenant had.
Higgins asked what is so unique about their
situation that they need a much larger sign than allowed in the Circle district. Mr. Swaney stated that, because they have the
largest building on the circle, they should be allowed to have a larger
sign. Higgins stated that there is no
where in the ordinance that bases the amount of signage on the size of the
building.
The Chairman asked if there was anyone who
wished to speak in favor of the petitioner’s request:
Richard McCredie,
Andrew Halldorson, 4315 Forestview, owns the
Sleepy Hollow Bookshop. He is delighted
that these people have come to the Circle.
He is in strong support of allowing the additional signage at the Amish
Reflections location. He feels we have a
very one-sided sign ordinance. It was
not made with the Circle businesses in mind.
For the most part, the circle businesses are not aware of the existing
ordinance. The Circle Business
Association just officially formed about four or five years ago.
Hearing no further comments in favor of the
petitioner’s request, the Chairman asked if there was anyone present who wished
to speak in opposition to this request:
Mr. John Quast, owner of 86 Ashman Circle, The
Material Mart, stated that Six months ago there was a hearing here about the
Diamond Factory. Mr. Quast spoke on
behalf of the CBA at that time. It was
the unanimous position of the CBA members to be in opposition of that sign. At their last meeting, there were six
businesses in favor of this signage and he was the lone vote against. Mr. Quast agrees that the ordinance needs to
be changed. There are a lot of other
businesses on the Circle that would also like to have additional signage. It is not fair that some have to comply with
the ordinance and some businesses do not.
He feels the ordinance needs to be changed so they all can increase
their amount of signage.
Hearing no further public comment the
Chairman closed the public hearing and directed the Board to enter findings of
fact on this request.
Findings of
Fact:
1.
The
structure is located at
2.
The
structure is the largest building on the Circle.
3.
The area
is zoned “C” and is called the Circle District.
4.
The area
abuts RC and CC where the signage is 150 sq. ft.
5.
The area
was changed to the Circle District in 2005.
6.
The
building previously had a larger sign than is currently being requested. (It
was approximately 240 sq. ft.)
7.
There is
no frontage for a ground sign.
8.
The
speed on
9.
You can
only see this sign if you are traveling southeast on
10.
There
were 20 letters in support of this request and two people spoke in support of
this variance and one person spoke in opposition to this variance.
11.
The city
has records to support having 49 sq. ft. of signage by the prior owner.
12.
The
building faces the Circle area as well as
13.
The
It is moved by Higgins and supported
by Siemer to approve Petition No. 08-01 based on the findings of fact to allow
the construction of 95 sq. ft. of wall signage at
Higgins stated this would make it
unnecessarily burdensome if they could have the larger sign. They sit back quite a ways from
Steele states he can see the uniqueness of the Circle area. He does have a challenge with E, resulting from their predecessors. Siemer agrees with A, B, and C. He found that the angle at which the business faces the traffic flow makes this property unique, along with the area and the distance of the buildings from the traffic flow.
Holthof stated the sticky point is
criteria D. The Circle area is the same
zoning district. They all have the same
problem so what is unique about this area? Holthof feels this building is
unique as it is an “anchor building” to the Circle district. This building is unique due to its size. All the rest of the business owners have
about the same size buildings. These properties
do not have ground signs available to them as the majority of them are built
right up to the property line. Strict
compliance with the ordinance becomes difficult because they cannot have a
ground sign. It is difficult to get back
to
Green stated that the building is unique by its location. They do have limited visibility. By the time someone actually sees this business; they have already passed the location. However, there is a procedure established and he feels it is the responsibility of the ZBA needs to uphold the ordinance as much as possible.
Voting on the motion:
Green: No
Higgins: No
Holthof: Yes
Siemer: Yes
Steele: Yes
The motion to approve the Petition 08-01 was approved 3-2.
4. PUBLIC COMMENTS (not related to items on the agenda)
None
5. OLD
BUSINESS
None
6. NEW BUSINESS
The Planning
Commission/Zoning Board of Appeals training session will be
7. DECISION SHEET SIGNATURES
8. ADJOURNMENT
Hearing no further business, the Chairman adjourned the
meeting at 7:56 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Daryl Poprave
Deputy Planning Director