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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.boa.19871217 CITY OF ASPEN BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT DECEMBER 17, 1987 4:00 P.M. A G E N D A I. CALL TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL III. MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 12, 1987 IV. CASE #87-13 Aspen Photography Studio, Inc. V. ADJOURNMENT RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS DECEMBER 17 1987 Chairman Remo Lavagnino called the meeting to order at 4 : 00 pm. ROLL CALL Answering roll call were Remo Lavagnino, Francis Whitaker, Rick Head and Anne Austin . Josephine Mann was excused. Charlie Paterson arrived immediately after roll call and Ron Erickson was absent. MINUTES NOVEMBER 12, 1987 Rick Head made a motion to approve the minutes of November 12 , 1987 . Charlie seconded the motion with all in favor . CASE #87-13 ASPEN PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO. INC Applicant has no lot line frontage yet is requesting a sign of 36 inches by 11 and 1/4 inches to be located facing Hopkins Street. Section 24-5 .10 (2) The aggregate area along any one street shall not exceed one square foot of sign area for each 3 feet of lot line frontage. Brian Sledge, Owner and operator of Aspen Photography Studio. Remo: I went down there to take a look at where your sign was. I noticed you had a sign up still. It is leaning up against the inner courtyard. Brian: That is supposed to be on the planter so it cannot be seen from the walkway. Remo : I saw it when I went down. You can see it from the street. But I noticed all the businesses down there had the same format . And I understand in your letter you are in a predicament about people not finding your place specific . But they can ' t find any place down there. And I am wondering why you think we should confer on you something that is not being enjoyed by anyone else down there and why you don' t have a sign on your window. You can utilize that area. And I think you are the only one who does not have a sign or decal on your window. All you have is that Ski Photo on top and it is sort of generic to everyone ' s business around here . Each of the individual BOAl2 .17 .87 businesses have their own particular sign . In your case you wouldn' t even be governed by the code because you can' t see it from the street. You could basically have anything you want down there without even coming to this board or to the City for any permit. Why have you not utilized things available to you to help people find your place and instead want to put up a sign which no one else has there? Brian: We are having a sign painted for the window . Our problem is not with guests finding us when they are at that point in the building. Our problem is them finding us when they are at the stairs wondering which direction to take from there. I stand up there in the evenings and watch the folks come around and watch them not know where to go. My observation is they are lost at that point and don' t know what to do. Remo: But everyone has that problem. Rick. Do they have a directory of shops there? Brian: Unfortunately the directory that they had at the corner of the building, they took down. They have never given an explanation as to why they did that. I don't believe they were required to. It was the only sign to identify that there even was a downstairs to the building or that there were businesses down there. Remo: It seems to me that you have recourse with the owner of the building and not with the City necessarily. Apparently it was allowed to be there. Whether he didn' t like it aesthetically is something that you could deal with him about. Apparently it is allowed for that size building so I don' t think the City is denying you the use of that directory. But if your landlord hasn' t provided that for you then you have to deal with him on it. Brian: Not all but most of the businesses downstairs are more local oriented than our business is. What we do with the map which is on the card I gave you is pass them out to our customers so they can find the building. That is even a problem from other business who call us. Once they get to the building, that is when the problem occurs. That is where they get confused about where and even if there is a downstairs. Remo : If the Board decides that they want to grant you a variance, it will be conditioned on the fact that there is a new sign code being worked out which is very extensive. I think that if the Board grants you the variance that they will want you 2 BOAl2 .17 .87 to comply once the code is in effect. And whatever you put in as far as monies for that sign is your burden. Remo reading from code: The business and occupancy identifi- cation sign shall be located on a business being identified unless the business does not have frontage at street grade. For such businesses one sign may be located on the business being identified and the other sign may be included in a business directory sign. It then lists the business sign sizes. The type of sign shall be a wall sign or a free standing sign. There shall be not more than one business directory sign per lot. The maximum permitted area of the business directory sign shall be as follows: For 1 to 5 businesses-one square foot of sign area per business. For 6 to 10 businesses, 5 sq ft plus 1/4 sq ft per business. For more than 10 businesses 7 and 1/4 sq ft plus 1/4 sq ft per business. Brian : I don ' t know if any of the other businesses have requested to have a sign. They either feel they don' t have the need, did not want to take the time, or trouble or expense to go through the procedure and request a sign variance. We feel that we are unique. I would also want to get together with all the other business owners and find out the reason why the signs that were of any value were taken down and find out what the chances are of re-creating something like that. In the meantime I feel that I have a problem that I would like to try to deal with now. Remo : You can get a directory sign now. If the owner of the building takes it off, then your complaint is with him and not with the City. Brian: I realize that and if that can be done in a week ' s time-- great. I would be happy to do that. But getting each owner of the businesses together to accomplish this, will take some time. Right now I feel that I have an immediate problem that I would like to solve. Then do something with the group as a group when we can get together. Remo: I would suggest the reason why the other people are not coming in is because it is not allowed. The sign that they probably would want would be exposed to the street . They realize that they can ' t have it . Now your coming to us and asking for that sign could also be looked at as a precedent- setting situation. If you get your sign they can say "Let' s go and see if we can all get our signs based on the same criteria" . This gets us back to a directory type sign which you are allowed to have. 3 BOAl2 .17 .87 Brian: I would love to be on a street frontage. But the size we need is 900 sq ft and that is a lot of space we need to operate a business. I simply could not afford to do that. Francis : I would not be in favor of granting this variance unless it were for a sign that complied with the new code. Anne: He has got his whole peak season coming up right now and if he wants to spend the money knowing that 6 months from now he might have to throw that sign away I think he should have that prerogative. Brian: I will agree to abide by any new sign code. Anne: The sign code has never addressed off-street businesses . I think that it is a real hardship on these people. Not everyone can afford to be on the street. There are not enough street places for everyone. We have given variances for other people who are on the second floor or in the basement. Bill Drueding: The sign code will not be adopted till after the season is over. Anne: In the new sign code, businesses that have street frontage can have their own individual signs. Bill: That is correct . Anne: And businesses that are off the street are again given a hardship because they can only be on the directory and not have an individual sign. Bill: They can have an individual sign which can' t be seen from the street. Francis: Would you consider having us grant a variance for the size sign that you would be permitted to have which would be 1 sq ft? Rick : I will tell you something. I went down there today to look for your shop. I could not find it. I walked around that whole place and I couldn ' t see it and I know the shop is in there. Charlie and Anne said they had had the same experience and agreed that it really was a problem. Brian: We are at a great disadvantage because of this. There are those businesses who cannot afford to be on the mall or on 4 BOAl2 .17.87 street levels. But we do pay taxes and we do offer services . From the information that we put out we direct hundreds of people a day to that location. A lot of people have a problem finding the building in general . However when they do get to the building that is where the problem begins. They wonder around aimlessly and then walk off thinking that we really are not there. Remo: I would put in this variance that if a directory sign does go up by the owner of the building that this sign come down. Anne: I think it should conform to the new code. If the new code says he can have a 1 sq ft sign and the directory we don' t know that that is going to be adopted. Remo opened the public portion of the meeting and asked for public comment. There was none and he closed the public portion of the meeting. He then asked for comments from the Board . Charlie : I am in favor of granting this variance if the applicant goes along with the 1 square foot condition. I realize we could have a precedent problem but I think that in this case he has a legitimate hardship and by granting him a minimal variance of 1 square foot, I would be in favor of the variance. Rick : I agree with Charlie. Anne: I agree with Charlie and Rick. Francis: I am ready. Remo reading from code: Signs which are fully located within the interior of any building or within any enclosed lobby or court of any building which are not visible from the public right-of-way adjacent lots or areas outside the building and signs not to exceed 30 inches by 42 inches located within the inner or outer lobby court or entrance of any theatre which are intended solely for information or relating to the interior operation of the building in which they are located. This is under an umbrella of exempt signs. So he could have 30 x 42 on his window or anywhere he wants inside. MOTION Rick: I move that we approve Case #87-13 with the restriction 5 BOAl2 .17 .87 that the sign be no larger than 1 square foot and its location to be above the stairway off Hopkins Street. Charlie seconded the motion. Francis: I would like the addition that when the new sign code is adopted that the sign conform with the new code. Remo: What if the owner of the building puts up a new directory sign tomorrow and they are legally allowed to. Do you still want him to have his sign there? Francis: No. That is why I wanted the motion amended Remo: You are talking about adoption of code and I am talking about if he is allowed to put a directory sign. The new code says you are allowed one sign for the total building. Where they put it on the building is not our concern. Brian : I would ask that that directory they have up there be taken down. It is totally useless. Please go by and see if you can even find it on the building. Remo: I thought you said they took this one down. Brian: No. They took the other one down. The one of value . Bill : We gave them the variance to put the one on Mill Street . Remo: That directory could have Ski Photo on it. Right? Bill : Right. Anne : It still does not help anyone to find their way in the building. Remo: But it is all that is allowed in code. Anne: But it has not been passed yet. Remo: But this is the only guideline we have. Anne: But it is ridiculous. They are not giving them any rights if they are off the street. It is saying if you are not wealthy enough to have a shop on the street, forget it because you can' t have a sign. They are saying you can have a directory if you are off the street but not a sign. This is a unique building. They should be able to divide that directory onto 2 sides of the building. 6 BOAl2 .17 .87 Rick : I amend my motion to: We are approving case #87-13 with the understanding that the sign will be no larger than 1 square foot. It will be placed in the stairway accessed from Hopkins Street. Then in the event the owners of the building decide to put a directory up and his name is included on there, that he will remove this sign. And further that when and if the sign code is adopted that he will abide by any and all of the provisions therein. Charlie amended his second to the motion. Roll call vote : Anne Austin, yes, Rick Head, yes, Charlie Paterson, yes, Francis Whitaker, yes and Remo Lavagnino, yes. Variance was approved. Francis: I would suggest a revision to this new code that any building which has 2 accesses there be some provision not to increase sign coverage but to allow locations for different accesses--splitting the director u Jan ce M. Ca ney, Ci y Deputy Clerk 7