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Zoning board denies Little Hearts Day Care full-window sign at 713 W. Fifth St.; staff outlines alternatives
Summary
The board denied a variance to allow a window sign covering 100% of a front window for Little Hearts Day Care, citing the 25% window-sign limit when a business name is displayed; staff said a full-coverage privacy decal without the business name would be allowed, and a wall sign is an option.
The Lorraine Zoning Board of Appeals voted Sept. 3 to deny a request to cover a front window with a decal that included the business name at Little Hearts Day Care Center, 713 West Fifth Street. Wagner Electric Sign, representing the applicant, asked for a variance to allow 100% window coverage; code permits up to 25%.
Planning staff and the fire chief reviewed safety and code implications. Trisha Naman of Wagner Electric Sign told the board the storefront is set back about 110 feet from the public sidewalk and that the window the applicant seeks to cover measures a little over 5 feet wide. "It's one large one... about a little bit over 5 feet," Naman said of the window. The fire department asked whether the decal would be removable; staff confirmed it would be a perforated sticker that allows occupants to see out.
Planning staff explained why the decal, as designed, was treated as signage: once a business name appears it counts as a sign and is subject to the 25% window-coverage limit for signage. A staff member said the applicant could retain a full-coverage privacy graphic if it did not include the business name, and the business name could be placed as a wall sign to the left of the entrance to meet code. "Once it has the name of the business, that triggers another threshold of marketing and signage," staff said.
Michelle Brooks, the day-care operator, described vandalism and graffiti on the building and said some privacy screening would help protect children and make parents feel safer. "I get a lot... they wrote all kinds of nasty graffiti on the building already," Brooks said, explaining her desire for privacy and screening.
Board member Henry Patterson moved to deny the variance; the motion was supported by Kevin Kramer. The board recorded one abstention and otherwise voted in favor; the motion carried. Staff told the applicant to revise the sign drawings and pursue administrative processing with the building department if they redesign the decal to remove the business name or relocate the name to a wall sign.
What happens next: If the applicant removes the business name from the window graphic, planning staff said the full-coverage privacy decal could be administratively approved; alternatively, a wall sign at the approved location can carry the business name and comply with the 25% rule.
