Item 10A City of Southlake, Texas
MEMORANDUM
May 3, 2002
TO: Billy Campbell, City Manager
FROM: Rick Black,Director of Public Safety(Ext. 2421)
SUBJECT: Request for a variance to Sign Ordinance No. 704-A for Tweeter Home Entertainment
located at 2801 E. Southlake Bloulevard.
Action Requested: City Council consideration of a variance to Sign Ordinance 704-A.
Background
Information: Tweeter Home Entertainment is a retail business located at 2801 E. Southlake
Boulevard.
Dan Davis of Anchor Sign, representing Tweeter Home Entertainment, is requesting a
variance to install a sign as shown on the attached plans. This would vary the
following sections of Sign Ordinance No. 704-A.
• Section 16.A ATTACHED SIGN
• A.2. MINIMUM/MAXIMUM LETTER /LOGO HEIGHT: Applicant is seeking
to install a sign with letters 24 inches or less except for one 36 inch upper case
letter"T",and one 30 inch lower case letter"t". Location of the proposed sign is
approximately 190 feet from the R.O.W. By ordinance the allowed letter/logo
height is 24 inches. Overall area of the sign is 73 square feet and is within
allowable area requirements.
Staff Note: The sign is essentially the correct size for the distance from the
R.O.W. Most letters range from 15 inches to 24 inches. Only two letters are
outside of the allowable height requirements. To reduce these two letters to the
allowed 24 inches and maintain the proportionality of the sign would require the
remaining letters to be reduced to 16 inches or less. The sign would become
difficult to read at a distance of nearly 200 feet.
Financial
Considerations: Not Applicable
Citizen Input/
Board Review: No citizen input has been received. Not subject to any Board review.
Legal Review: None
Alternatives: The council may approve the request, deny the request, or approve it subject to
whatever conditions they deem appropriate.
1
Billy Campbell
( kpril 30,2002
%Wage 2
Supporting
Documents: Variance Application Form
Site Plan
Ordinance No.704-A, Section 16.A. 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.
Photo Rendition
Staff
Recommendation: Place the variance request on the May 7,2002 City Council meeting for disposition.
RB/sv
L
2
•
the following sections have been excerpted from the Sign Ordinance No.704-A
SEC. 14 VARIANCES
The City Council may authorize variances to any restriction set forth in this ordinance, including but not
limited to the number, type, area, height, or setback of signs, or any other aspect involved in the sign
permitting process. In granting any variance, the City Council shall determine that a literal enforcement of the
sign regulations will create an unnecessary hardship or a practical difficulty on the applicant, that the situation
causing the unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty is unique to the affected property and is not self-
imposed, that the variance will not injure and will be wholly compatible with the use and permitted
development of adjacent properties, and that the granting of the variance will be in harmony with the spirit and
purpose of this sign ordinance. A person may request a variance from the Sign Ordinance by filing the request
with the Building Official. Any request for variance shall be accompanied by a completed application and a
non-refundable filing fee in the amount specified in the current fee schedule adopted by City Council.
SEC. 16 PERMITTED SIGN STRUCTURES AND GENERAL REGULATIONS
A. ATTACHED SIGN
1. GENERAL: Unless otherwise specifically provided, the regulations set forth in this subsection shall be
applicable to all attached signs which are allowed under this ordinance. Signs may not be attached to light
fixtures,poles, curbs, sidewalks,gutters, streets, utility poles,public buildings, fences,railings,public telephone
poles,or trees. The direct painting of signs on buildings shall be prohibited except for signs less than a three(3)
square foot area used for building identification.
2. MINIMUM/MAXIMUM LETTER/LOGO HEIGHT:The minimum height allowed for letters or logos shall be
six(6)inches. The maximum height allowed for letters or logos shall be based on the following criteria:
Distance From R.O.W. * Maximum Letter/Logo Height
Less than 100 ft. 12 inches
101 - 150 ft. 18 inches
151 -200 ft. 24 inches
201 -250 ft. 30 inches
251 -300 ft. 36 inches
301 and greater 42 inches
* - For any lease space which does not front on a street, the maximum letter/logo height shall be based on the
distance from the vehicular driveway access(see Appendix'B' for further clarification).
3. MAXIMUM AREA: 0.75 square feet for every one foot of width of building or lease space not to exceed 400
square feet(see Appendix'A'for further clarification).
4. NUMBER OF SIGNS: Only one attached sign per lease space shall be allowed along each street frontage on
any site,unless otherwise specifically provided in this ordinance. A secondary sign may be permitted at a public
entrance, provided the entrance is on another side of the building, but shall be limited to twenty-five percent
(25%)of the primary or permitted sign size,whichever is more restrictive. The six(6) inch minimum letter/logo
height will not apply to these secondary signs. No more than two(2) attached signs shall be allowed per lease
space. Attached signs shall be located within the first story of the main exterior entrance for a building or lease
space(see Appendix`B' for further clarification).
3
5. SIGN WIDTH: Attached signs shall be limited in width to the middle seventy five percent(75%)of the width of
any building or lease space. In the event the lease space facade is horizontally articulated, the 75% rule shall
apply to the allowed sign to be located on any single plane facade (see Appendix'B'for further clarification).
6. ROOF LINE LIMITATIONS: In no case shall an attached sign project above the roof line of any building,
except those attached to parapet walls and the sign may not extend above the parapet wall. Signs shall be no
closer vertically to the eave of the roofline or overhang than the predominant letter height(see Appendix `B' for
further clarification). Signs may be attached to a continuous plane fascia, if the sign does not extend above or
below the projection of the fascia. Signs attached to fascia are only allowed when attached to structural canopy
supported to the ground by columns constructed of similar masonry material as the primary structure (See
Appendix `B' for further clarification).
7. ILLUMINATION: Attached signs may only be illuminated utilizing internal lighting. Exterior letters with
exposed neon lighting are not allowed.
8. PROTRUSIONS: Attached signs may not protrude farther than eighteen inches (18") from the building,
excluding signs attached to canopies.
9. RESIDENTIAL ADJACENCY: Attached signs shall not be allowed on any facade(other than the main front of
the building) which faces property zoned for single-family residential uses if the sign is within one hundred fifty
feet(150')of the property line of said residential property.
4
CITY OF SOUTHLAKE
SIGN VARIANCE APPLICATION
APPLICANT OWNER(if different)
NAME: Anchor Sign, Inc . Chris Silvertharne
ADDRESS: 407 PI.lizabPth Ave . 5207 McKinney Ave. , Suite 12
Clearwater, FL 33759 Dallas , TX 75205
PHONE: ( 727) 712-9611 ( 214) 571 -4G.46
FAX: ( 727) 723-0315
The following information pertains to the location for which the variance is requested
NAME OF BUSINESS OR OPERATION: Tweeter Hone Entertainment
STREET ADDRESS: 2801 Southlake Blvd . SouthlaKE , TX 76092
Loy LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Lot Block- Subdivision
I hereby certify that this application is comslete as per the requirements-of Sign Ordinance No. 704 as
summarized below. I further unders . ' necessary to have a representative at the City Council
meeting who is authorized to discuss , 1 ii
Applicant's signature: A. 41 ► Date: (- - as-
The following checklist is a summary of requirements for sign variance requests as required by
the City of Southlake. The applicant should further refer to the Sign Ordinance No.704 and
amendments,and other ordinances maps, and codes available at the City Hall that may pertain
to this sign variance request.
1" Completed sign variance request application.
I' Completed demonstration of conditions applicable to the requested variance (see
attached.) .
fiSite plan showing the location of the sign variance request and any other signs
that conform to or are exempt from the sign ordinance. The site plan shall also
indicate the building, landscaped areas,parking& approaches and adjoining
street R. 0. W.
Scaled and dimensioned elevations of the signs for which the variance is
requested. For attached signs,the elevations shall show the building,the sign
for which the variance is requested, and any other signs that conform to or are
exempt from the sign ordinance.
5
Demonstration
Please demonstrate that the following conditions are applicable to the requested sign variance:
1. That a literal enforcement of the sign regulation will crate an unnecessary
hardship or practical difficulty on the applicant
The 24" letter size limitation for this location does not
allow for useful visibility in identifying this business .
Surrounding foliage and traffic flow provides a small
amount of time for business recognition by passing
possible patrons .
2 • That the situation causing the unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty is
tror unique to the affected property and is not self imposed.
The surrounding trees and the uphill grade of the traffic flow
for this property allow . a unique brief identification
timeframe for passing traffic .
3. That the variance will not injure and will be wholly compatible with the use and
permitted development of adjacent properties.
Allowing 36" letter height will not injure and will be compatible
with surrounding properties as this variance request only
affects the front elevation of the property.
4 • That the variance will be in harmony with the spirit and purpose of the sign
ordinance.
The requested 36" letter height is in the spirit of the
ordinance as a small increase in letter height that would be
allowable if the building was further setback from the road .
•
06/12/2001 13:30 2143619906
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