The Elyria Planning Commission on Aug. 12 approved two downtown design‑review waivers to allow plastic and nonstandard signage at two Broad Street businesses: Carly’s Ceramics at 246 Broad Street and Little Caesar’s at 125 Broad Street.

Mister Schoening summarized case 2025100086 for Carly’s Ceramics and case 2025100087 for Little Caesar’s, noting that downtown design guidelines normally prohibit plastic signs and certain internally lit colors. Dean Schramm, representing the Carly’s Ceramics sign applicant, requested the waiver to install the proposed plastic sign. Cathy Clark, representing Ace Lighting Service for Little Caesar’s, said the project replaces an existing sign and requested approval to use the chain’s corporate orange color.

Staff recommended approval in both cases, noting that the commission has approved similar exceptions in the past. Mister Farkas told commissioners that the city has discussed how the adopted design review standards will be affected by the upcoming zoning code rewrite and that staff is considering revising the standards to reduce repeat waiver requests and streamline the process.

The commission approved the waiver for Carly’s Ceramics (motion moved by Miss Rivera, seconded by Mister Tedrow) and the waiver for Little Caesar’s (motion moved by Mister Battle, seconded by Mister Tedrow). Both motions passed by voice vote and the chair declared the motions carried.

Discussion versus decision: the actions taken were administrative waivers to the design guidelines. Commissioners asked staff to consider updating the design review process to address recurring exceptions; no changes to the code were adopted at the meeting.