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Board of Adjustment approves electronic monument sign for Laundromax at Sycamore School Road
Summary
The Fort Worth Board of Adjustment approved a special exception allowing a monument sign with 14 sq ft of electronic changeable copy at 3407 Sycamore School Road, overturning the lapse of a prior permit and keeping the sign within ordinance size limits.
The Fort Worth Board of Adjustment on March 19 approved a special exception to allow a monument sign with electronic changeable copy at 3407 Sycamore School Road, where a Laundromax is operating.
The decision lets the applicant install a 61-square-foot monument sign with 14 square feet (about 22%) devoted to electronic changeable copy (ECC). City staff said the proposed sign meets height and area limits for the site’s PD-245 zoning and that the electronic panel is under the 25% maximum allowed by code for such signs.
The applicant, David Erwin of Signs by Tomorrow, said the existing brick sign structure on the site is an “eyesore” and that the new sign will “advertise a need, which is the Laundromax.” He told the board the business will “abide by whatever guidelines y’all set forth as far as the dimming or the time, for the digital display to be on.”
City staff reported that a similar monument sign with ECC was approved by the Board in 2014 and permitted in 2014, but that the permit expired in 2015. Staff said the new sign location already has zoning plans-exam approval except for the ECC portion.
Commissioners discussed whether to add hour limits on the electronic copy. Several members noted other ECC signs are present at the intersection of Sycamore and McCart and that the site fronts a principal arterial. Commissioner Tony Perez said that on a road with many businesses “it’d be actually rare for no ECC signs to be on there,” and recommended approval. Several commissioners said the sign’s eight-foot height limit and a nearby church reduce the likelihood of light intruding on the closest residential subdivision about 300 feet east.
Commissioner Darren Hoppe moved to approve the request “as presented.” The motion passed by voice vote with all members present voting to approve.
The board’s approval places the sign under standard development conditions and the applicant must comply with the city’s illumination/dimming and ECC rules; the board did not add a separate curfew on the electronic copy.
