7.3. SR 11-18-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sign, District Gateway- freestanding (and/or monument) sign located at the corner of a main ingress or egress to a zoning district which prominently displays the name of the district in fixed letters and district events via electronic board Section 30-872 18. One district sign not to exceed 100 square feet with a maximum height of 20 feet. The electronic message board portion of the district gateway sign shall not exceed 80 square feet. The district sign shall be located on the same premises as the district identifies. •The proposed sign will be located on the east side of Granite Shores and will be screened by the building; I provided images which shows the sign cannot be seen on Main Street when walking eastbound until you reach the front doors of The Bank of Elk River •Planning Commission met on 10-8-13 and held a public hearing for comment on the Sign Ordinance- I provided the attached PowerPoint to the PC during the public hearing, which included elements from the attached document entitled "Narrative-Support from City Plans" Other comments from the 10-8-13 public hearing re: sign ordinance amendment include, but are not limited to: • River's Edge Business Association Chair asked for clarification as it related to the changes recommended by staff after all the comments provided by the downtown group; the only change he saw was permitting a portable sign at each entrance of the downtown business- nothing else. Staff confirmed this was the case and that all other recommendations made by the downtown were denied. • Steve Anderson with Franklin Outdoor Advertising made comments about the fact that we need more signage, not less- supported the 15%for wall signage and opening up the opportunity to permit billboards • River's Edge Business Association member Jennifer Wagner, downtown business owner, Elk River resident expressed disappointment that recommendations made by the downtown group, Chamber and other business owners weren't taken into consideration into staff's proposed changes. Asked the Planning Commission to consider increasing the maximum window coverage in downtown to 80%, increasing wall signage to 15% and to allow monument/freestanding signs in downtown Elk River. She asked for clarification on what"fragile character" of downtown is- she indicated every positive of the proposed Granite Shores sign far outweighs any negative brought up by staff; Granite Shores and The Bank of Elk River Building is not historic. She expressed her concern over the city discussing building a similar freestanding/monument sign with tax payer dollars while not allowing a private business to do the same thing. She suggested asking Granite Shores to donate 50% of the electronic message portion of the sign to community events- she encouraged the Planning Commission to work with Granite Shores to make the sign work. • Representative Nick Zerwas expressed concern over comments he had received from business owners as it relates to their disappointment that staff is not supporting the proposed Granite Shores sign. He indicated he was disappointed that staff was not supporting the business's desires. He reviewed all the studies that city has done which support the downtown and indicate the downtown is the heart of Elk River. He supported increasing wall signage to 15%. He suggested the Planning Commission approve adopting Decklan Group's proposed sign ordinance amendment to permit the Granite Shores sign- to show the downtown, business owners and residents that the Planning Commission is committed to the viability of downtown. Comments made after the public hearing by planning commissioners include, but are not limited to: • wanted the Chamber to prioritize their changes; Debbi indicated increasing the wall signage to 15%, opening up the opportunity to permit billboards, and allow the proposed Granite Shores freestanding sign • supported increasing the wall signage percentage (different increased percentages were mentioned)- 5% looks "too small" • wanted feedback from other commissions (HPC is reviewing tonight) • if we didn't have businesses in Elk River, we would be a bedroom community • concern mentioned about the brightness of Cornerstone Auto Resource's electronic message board sign • table this discussion to a workshop to discuss further, bring back to November Planning Commission meeting 2