The Plymouth Board of Zoning Appeals members had a familiar issue present itself at their regular Tuesday meeting as once again the city sign ordinance was the issue.
Tuesday, it was the Bowen Center who came before the board seeking a variance of development standards to allow an additional wall sign at their new location on U.S. 30 at Miller Drive.
Bowen was hoping to put an additional wall sign on the property that would be 31 feet wide and three and a half feet tall. The sign had already been constructed and the building was also prepared to place the sign.
At a previous meeting, the Bowen Center had already been granted a variance for a larger yard sign than allowed by the Plymouth Zoning ordinance.
The board had several concerns. The question of visability for the facility that was at the heart of the request. Members questioned the assertion since there were already four signs on the property and one variance for a larger yard sign.
Second was why Bowen claimed ignorance of the need for a variance for a fifth sign since that stipulation was made clear in a Technical Review Committee hearing that happened before plans for the construction were approved.
Third was why they had already constructed and prepared for the installation of the sign before coming before the board.
An initial motion was made to approve the variance but only four members of the BZA were present and the vote ended in a tie.
Plymouth Mayor Robert Listenberger came forward to intercede, asking if the action meant that the Bowen Center could not come back before the board for a year or if because of the tie vote, they could re-approach the issue next month. Because of the tie the board made another motion to table the matter to allow Bowen to come back with the issue in October.
At that point a representative of the Bowen Center came forward and withdrew the application, not wanting to “create frustration.”
The issue prompted BZA President Art Jacobs to ask the board if they would like to revisit the city’s sign ordinance based on the large number of clarification issues and applications for variance in recent years. Members decided that the ordinance should be looked at but no time or date was set for the action.
