ROGERS -- Four business owners left a public meeting Tuesday in a huff when planning commissioners approved an addition to the sign ordinance the owners weren't happy about.
"This change in the sign ordinance is going to be a financial hardship on Southgate Shopping Center, said John Sporleder, owner of the center.
At A Glance
Planning Commission
Rogers Planning commissioners met Tuesday and approved:
• A request from Walter and Sara White and Simmons Sales to rezone 2110, 2114, 2118 and 2202 S. Eighth St. from a mix of highway commercial and open display commercial to all open display commercial.
• A reques to rezone 1.13 acres at the northeast corner of Pleasant Grove Road and Dixieland Road from agriculture to highway commercial.
• A permit for Emilio Garmendia, E&J Auto Repair and Sales, at 702 N. Second St. Aldermen restricted Garmendia to having no more than 10 cars on the property at one time.
• The plat for West Landing, a 43-lot subdivision at West Drive and South 45th Street.
• A request from Furniture Factory Outlet, 3724 W. Walnut Street, to have three temporary furniture storage trailers behind the building for six months while the company searches for storage space to rent or lease.
Source: Staff Report
This 1967 sign cost $70,000, Sporleder said. If he has to comply with the new ordinance the pylon sign he has in front of the center will have to be replaced with a monument sign at substantial cost to him.
There are two sizes of monument signs in the ordinance. For a single business, the sign must sit on the ground and can only be 6 feet tall with 72 square feet for the sign. A center with multiple businesses can have a monument sign 10 feet tall with 100 square feet of sign.
The reason for the change is the expansion of the overlay district and plans to widen Walnut Street from three to five lanes from Eighth Street to Dixieland Road in 2016. The purpose of th district is make the entrances to the city more attractive with less clutter, city officials said.
Matt Engle, representing Best Sign company, said the company is against the change.
"We could make a lot of money if these people have to change their signs, but we believe this change just isn't right," Engle said.
The pylon signs have spaces to change the name of the tenants in the small centers in the expanded area, Engle continued.
"According to the change, if a tenant moves out and a new one moves in the whole sign has to be replaced. That would be a huge cost for a small business and I consider that a hardship," he said.
He also suggested all of the business owners, many of whom live out of state, be contacted by registered mail before the change goes into effect Jan. 1, 2017.
Derrel Smith, city senior planner, told commissioners the city complied with all city and state laws and contacting business owners by certified mail wasn't necessary.
David Bordorsky, representing a business owner, asked commissioners to reconsider changing the sign ordinance.
"Let the business owner to continue to switch the tenant signs on the existing signs. What you are doing may be illegal," Bordorsky said.
Smith explained the business owners can continue to change out the smaller tenant signs for the next two years.
Rick Wilson said he tried to get a sign permit recently for a business in the expanded overlay district but was told to wait until commissioners made a decision on the sign ordinance change.
He said the city wasn't following its own rules because of the "wayfinding" signs recently installed in the city.
"What about those signs? The city isn't setting a very good example," Wilson said.
Smith said the signs are directional signs not business signs.
Mike Shupe, commissioner, said he favored monument signs but could understand some of what the businessmen were talking about. He asked why the signs weren't grandfathered in for now and changed when the building or business sold.
"We tried that on Eighth Street in 1991 when it was brought into the overlay district," Smith.
"Drive along Eighth Street and you still see several pylon signs there today, so that doesn't work. We are giving the business owners on Walnut more than two years before the signs have to meet city code. If the sign has to come down when Walnut Street is expanded the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department will pay the owner the market value of the existing sign," Smith said.
Commissioners approved the change. Aldermen also will have to approve the change. The new wording is scheduled to go before the City Council on Aug. 12.
Aldermen also approved a development plan for Whataburger at 4335 S. Pleasant Crossing Blvd. near the Walmart Supercenter on Pleasant Grove Road. This will be the Texas-based company's first restaurant in Arkansas. There is a Whataburger in Texarkana, but it's on the Texas side of the city.
The 3,160 square-foot building will have 40 parking spaces and two handicapped spaces.
The first Whataburger opened in August 1950 in Corpus Christi, Texas. The chain has 700 stores in the south and southwestern states.
Jenny Gregoreyk, with the public media office of Whataburger, said Tuesday, the company doesn't wish comment but would have media releases as the store construction progresses and an opening date is set.
NW News on 07/02/2014