07B - Lakes Stae Bank Sign Permit

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7b. Lakes State Bank Sign Issue Lakes State Bank has submitted an updated request for a sign. This was done based on the advice provided in the email excerpted below: (Written on March 21, 2005 to Justin Bolz Andolshek and Lakes state Bank) Let me provide a little bit of clarification for this. It is absolutely clear that if the sign is 12 feet high or less AND each side of the sign does not exceed a total area available for signage of 64 square feet, that we can issue an over the counter permit without any question. We can do that right now and would be very happy to do so. If we get into a nuanced definition of what is sign area-is it the rectangular part of the sign or is it only the area of the lettering-we are not going to be able to resolve that without going to the Planning Commission. It would seem right now that their consensus would be to compute sign area the same way the sign company does, which would make the proposed sign too large by quite a bit. There was not 100% agreement on that, however. If you go over 12 feet, again there is some ambiguity. There was a temporary ordinance that was adopted a few years ago but likely thrown out as part of the motion to adopt other ordinances. With the merger it is unclear, which is why we are working so hard to get the updated ordinance adopted. The temporary ordinance would have allowed signs as high as the building. The Commission did not appear to want to go that direction. The new ordinance will provide for a sign that is 15 feet high, but the total sign area allowed is cut in half. The discussions that were had in developing this ordinance centered around providing for a decent amount of signage for everyone but resisting having any one sign dominate any other. The P&Z Commission did not want to see a sign war with each new sign getting comparatively bigger. There is a provision in the new ordinance, however, to allow for flexibility at the discretion of the Planning Commission where a unique situation presents itself. I do not have any guidance as to whether they would consider this a unique situation. So it seems you have three courses of action: 1. Get a permit today for 12 feet or less and 64 square feet of area. 2. Go back to the Planning Commission with a different plan, probably lower than 16 feet and with less sign area or the result will likely be the same. 3. Wait for the new ordinance to be approved-hopefully in April or May. Go ahead and contact me if you want to discuss this more or have any other questions. -Chuck Marohn City Planner 218-828-3064 The new sign is proposed to be constructed with 64 square feet of sign area per side and a total height of 14 feet. Architecturally the sign is much less imposing-it strikes a narrower profile and the height will blend in with the surrounding area. The Planning Commission has the latitude to interpret the Ordinance to provide for this sign as an over- the-counter permit. That is the recommendation of your staff.