MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton,
Town Manager
SUBJECT: Report
on Petition Regarding Signage at Performance Automotive
DATE: December 11, 2000
This memorandum responds to
a petition that the Town Council referred to the Town Manager. The petition requested approval of an
additional ground sign for the Performance Automotive Company.
On October 23,
2000, Mr. Mark Moore brought a petition to the Town Council on behalf of the
Performance Automotive Company (petition attached). Mr. Moore requests that the Town approve an additional ground
sign to be placed on the Performance Automotive site.
The existing
signage on the site was approved by the Appearance Commission in October,
1987. Specifically, the Appearance
Commission approved a Unified Sign Plan for Performance Motors that allowed a
“wall” sign for each of the four brands of cars sold on the site (Acura, BMW,
Chevrolet and Subaru). The “wall” signs
consisted of ground signs that were interpreted at the time as being wall signs
because they were situated adjacent to retaining walls in front of the
buildings. In 1991, the Appearance
Commission upheld this interpretation and approved a fifth “wall” sign for
Saturn.
We note that,
in 1998, the Town Council combined the former Appearance Commission and former
Design Review Boards into a new advisory board, the Community Design
Commission. At this time, the Council shifted the approval of signage to Town
staff.
PROCESS
In accordance
with the Town’s Development Ordinance, sign applications are submitted to Town
staff for administrative review and approval.
The formal process consists of an applicant submitting a Sign
Application with appropriate materials and application fee, and then Town staff
making a determination of approval, approval with conditions, or denial. In the event that a Sign Application is
denied, an applicant could choose to appeal the decision to the Board of
Adjustment.
Applicants may
also choose to request a letter of determination from the staff regarding the
applicability of the Development Ordinance to a particular signage issue. If the applicant does not agree with the
staff interpretation outlined in the letter of determination, then the
applicant could also choose to appeal the staff interpretation to the Board of
Adjustment.
At
the present time, we have not received a Sign Application or a request for a
Letter of Determination from the petitioner.
Based
on the materials submitted to the Town Council, we do not believe that the
proposed sign would meet the requirements of the Town’s Development
Ordinance. In particular, Article
14.13.8.1(a) of the Ordinance requires that:
“The message of ground
signs shall be limited to the name(s), trademarks and servicemark(s) of the
establishment(s) located on the zoning lot and/or of a multi-use development
located thereon, except that ground signs identifying theaters or service
stations may also identify the current presentation(s) or fuel prices, as
appropriate, and that ground signs identifying places of worship may also
provide information related to the place of worship and its activities on the
zoning lot.”
Accordingly, we believe that the
appropriate content of a ground sign on this site would be limited to the name
of the business (Performance Automotive) and its appropriate servicemarks
(Acura, BMW, Chevrolet, Saturn and Subaru).
We also do not believe that “Preowned No Risk Used Cars & Trucks”
meets the definition of a servicemark.
In addition, we note that if the proposed sign were interpreted to
fulfill the message requirements of the Development Ordinance, then the
dealership could also proceed to ask for additional ground signs for the Parts
Department, the Service Department, etc.
We
recommend that the Council take no action at this time.
ATTACHMENT
1.
Petition
from Mr. Mark Moore (p. 3).