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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-11-09 BOA MINUTES AMMIL BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER 1001 NORTH IDAHO ROAD APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA NOVEMBER 9, 1987 7:00 P.M. WORK SESSION ON AGENDA ITEMS AT 6:45 P.M. PRESENT ABSENT GUESTS Mrs. Blatterspiel None List in Mrs. Castro Planning Mrs. Lynch Office Mr. Schaffer Mr. Sanchez, Chairman Mr. Dunn, Staff Mr. Nakagawa, Staff Mrs. Reid, Staff Mr. Newcomer, Executive Secretary Mrs. Pruitt, Recording Secretary SYNOPSIS: Agenda dated November 9, 1987 approved as submitted. Minutes dated August 10, 1987 approved as submitted. BA-3-87 approved. 1 . Roll Call Five members present. 2. Blatterspiel/Schaffer M/S "I make a motion that we approve the agenda dated November 9, 1987." Motion passed 5-0-0. 3. Schaffer/Blatterspiel M/S "I make a motion that we approve the minutes dated August 10, 1987 as presented. " Motion passed 3-0-2 with Castro and Lynch abstaining since they were not present at August 10 meeting. 4. Chairman opened BA-3-87 and asked for staff's briefing. 5. Mr. Newcomer briefed the Board on this request by Big 0 Tire Store to install a 3' x 12' reader board type sign on an existing sign pole directly beneath the existing 6'x12' , 17' high sign. He reminded the Board of four criteria to be met for a variance to be granted and gave an analysis of the four criteria. He then gave staff recommenda- tations and alternative conditions for approval . BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES NOVEMBER 9, 1987 PAGE TWO "_ 6. Chairman asked applicant to address the Board. 7. Sam Warren presented a letter to Chairman which he wrote and took to mobile home park residents. The letter had 75 signatures of people from the park which he had collected within a 3-hour time span. He is concerned regarding safety of mobile home park residents ' getting onto Apache Trail because he has been asked in past to move tires so they could better see. He indicated with the reader board attached as requested, there would be no problem of blocking view of people trying to enter the highway. He does not want to lower the sign to 8' and have someone get killed in an accident and Big 0 Tire be put out of business because of a lawsuit. He also said a lower sign would be run into on a regular basis because many of his customers drive motor homes or pull travel trailers and cannot see it. He also stated that diesel trucks making deliveries to adjoining businesses use that road, and lowering the sign would cause problems for them to see oncoming traffic. He said they will put stucco or a planter box around the sign if requested, but it will only be run over and have to be rebuilt. 8. Chairman asked the Board if they had any questions of Mr. Warren. 9. Mrs. Lynch asked with planter box, what would be the aproximate height from the bottom of the reader board to the ground. 10. Sam Warren answered about 8' plus a few inches from bottom of reader board to ground. 11 . Mr. Schaffer commented if the maximum height is 8' , then the sign plus reader board would be on the ground. 12. Mr. Newcomer indicated the sign plus the reader board itself in height is 9' . If you drop it down, it would be on the ground. 13. Sam Warren said if you drop it down, the only way to go is length, and that creates more problems. AMft 14. Mr. Schaffer asked is a fact that the sign could be built out toward boulevard. 15. Mr. Newcomer indicated he wasn 't sure where property line was. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES NOVEMBER 9, 1987 PAGE THREE 16. Sam Warren said he had jokingly asked mayor what if he made an 8'x16' wall on corner of intersection for a few days to see what the response from public would be; he would paint the mayor' s phone number on it and if people didn 't like it, he would jokingly suggest they call him. He said the mayor laughed at his joke. He mentioned also that a sign of that size would also block from view "Henry' s Tastee Freeze". It would also obstruct the view of people trying to leave the Tastee Freeze because they couldn't see highway traffic. 17. Mrs. Lynch asked about the possibility of using a smaller Big 0 sign. 18. Sam Warren informed Board the reason he began seeking the Variance was because the Arizona Advertising group said they have some money and would like to erect a reader board sign for Big 0 Tire. They would pay $4,000 for it. If he has to do all the other things, Big 0 Tire will have to pay for these. 19. Mr. Schaffer said even if he made a smaller sign, he would still be adding to a non-conforming sign which would put him back down to ground level . The smartest thing to do would be to go with bottom diagram or leave sign as is. 20. Mrs. Lynch asked about his using an overall smaller sign. 21 . Mr. Newcomer said from staff's standpoint, even if he wanted to make a trade regarding size of sign to accommodate the reader board, they couldn't do that as a staff function. Even that would have to be a Board of Adjustment decision. 22. Sam Warren pointed out there could be no new businesses come into that area because it is already full . He commented there are some pretty good looking signs along there and he would like to make this a nice looking sign. They do want to have an attractive sign. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES NOVEMBER 9, 1987 PAGE FOUR ... 23. Mr. Schaffer asked regarding going with bottom diagram and dropping the sign down to 8' and extending it out toward street. 24. Sam Warren replied you would still have an 8'x16' wall on corner. There's no problem in doing that, other than the safety hazard and the fact that it will be run into a lot. He would probably haveto put some pipes around it to protect it. The other thing regarding dropping sign down to ground is that it would come over the door of the alignment rack. If you have to put posts to protect pole, you can't get into alignment rack, especially large trucks and one-ton campers. 25. Chairman asked Board if they had any other questions. Asked Sam Warren if Big 0 Tire wasn 't already close to the state right-of-way. Commented they probably couldn't take sign to the South without infringing on state right-of-way. 26. Mr. Newcomer commented that the natural pavement of Apache Trail is well into the right-of-way. 27. Chairman Asked staff for recommendation since no one was present to speak in favor or in opposition to the Variance. 28. Mr. Newcomer said he included his recommendation during briefing part but would be available for any questions Board would have. He directed Board's attention to another staff recommendation from the Building and Zoning Department, which was contained in packet. He made statement that the petition in favor of the Variance had approximately 75 signatures on it. 29. Chairman asked Mr. Warren whether or not signatures he obtained were those of permanent residents or winter visitors. 30. Sam Warren replied that when he had asked (the manager) , and he said that he was still only about 60% filled up with winter visitors, so Mr. Warren thought most of them were permanent residents. 31 . Chairman told Mr. Warren he had right of rebuttal to anything staff had said. Since he didn't have any, Chairman asked if there were any questions Board would like to ask staff. He closed the hearing to the public and asked Board to deliberate. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES NOVEMBER 9, 1987 PAGE FIVE 32. Mrs. Lynch was concerned about setting precedents for future signs. 33. Chairman said every variance has its own peculiarities and there probably would not be another one exactly like this one. He said everything on the Apache Trail is grandfathered. 34. Mrs. Castro asked if there was a possibility that the sign could be relocated somewhere ese. 35. Mrs. Lynch mentioned the letter from the Building Division. 36. Mr. Newcomer said the sign could be placed anywhere along frontage, but if moved or changed, it would take Board of Adjustment or Planning and Zoning approval because it is a non-conforming sign in terms of height and also because it is sitting on same piece of ground that Sonic is on. Only one sign is allowed per parcel . 37. Mr. Schaffer said that the biggest percentage of business signs are non-conforming because they have been there a long time. 38. Mr. Newcomer answered that the Sign Code was passed three years ago, and some examples of new ones on the Trail would be Goodyear and Auto Shack. 39. Mrs. Castro asked if sign had to be in the southwest corner. Could it be in the southeast corner? 40. Chairman said if he moves the sign, it 's a new ballgame. 41 . Mrs. Castro said if we approve what he' s asking, we're going against our code. 42. Mrs. Blatterspiel reflected if they moved the sign to the southeast corner, it would be in Sonic Drive-in's view of approaching traffic. 43. Schaffer/Lynch M/S "I move that we let him adopt the sign they want. The present sign does not obstruct traffic although it does not comply with the City Codes, reasons to grant that are. 1 . It does not obscure traffic and therefore, would not create a hazard. AMR 11. 2. If the Variance was not granted and the sign was moved to the southeast corner, the same problem exists. There is no other location for the sign other than the way it was described. BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MINUTES NOVEMBER 9, 1987 PAGE SIX 3. It would not be detrimental to any people residing in the neighborhod because the people that live behind Big 0 Tire Store have signed a petition in favor of the request. 4. Without getting the Variance, again, he can't relocate the sign and make it safe in another area and I see that as the only way to make it feasible for the man to be able to do like he wants to. 5. Again, first and foremost, it doesn't create a hazard and that' s my main concern. The conditions for approval are: 1 . Maintain original seventeen foot (17' ) height with the reader board underneath. 2. Appearance will remain similar. " Motion passed 4-1-0 with Mrs. Castro dissenting. 44. Chairman told Mr. Warren he can put up his reader board. 45. Mr. Newcomer asked Board to remove old pages and insert new pages into book. He told Board resignations were included as a matter of information and required no action to be taken. 46. Schaffer/Castro M/S "I make a motion that we adjourn this meeting. " Meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. Respectfully submit d, "7 • C arles . e omer, xecutive Secretary Ken Sanchez, Chairman