Planning board declines Maverick sign variance and directs staff to review sign code

Belgrade's planning board declined to approve a sign variance for a proposed Maverick convenience store at 601 East Frank Road and instead directed city staff to return with recommended amendments to the freestanding sign rules for the board to consider.

Planner Hayden Caligiuri told the board the applicant had requested a variance for a freestanding pole sign 60 feet in height. Caligiuri said the code limits freestanding signs to 40 square feet and interprets the allowable height as tied to the maximum building height in the zone (60 feet). The staff presentation called attention to a large freestanding sign square footage figure for the Maverick proposal that differs across materials provided: the staff packet described a large sign and at one point referred to a 150-square-foot figure; the initial summary mentioned 50 square feet. The transcript contains both numbers (50 and 150), and staff and applicants discussed the discrepancy during the hearing.

Clint, representing Maverick, told the board the company seeks larger signage to be visible from the nearby interstate and freeway speeds. "When somebody's going, you know, 60, 80 miles an hour on a freeway, you only have ... 8 seconds to make a decision," he said. Maverick's representatives said larger signs increase customer recognition and site safety by giving drivers more notice.

Board members debated the zoning-code rationale and precedent. Several members said they were sympathetic to the site's commercial freeway location and to the need to attract motorists to Belgrade businesses. Others said approving a large variance without a documented hardship would create precedent that could produce visual clutter and subsequent requests from other applicants. Jason, planning staff, said the council and planning board could pursue a zone-text amendment if the board wished to change the allowable square footage or introduce a specific freeway-corridor rule.

A motion not to grant the variance but to direct staff to review and propose sign-code modifications for freestanding signs passed. The board recorded four votes in favor of that action and two votes against it during the meeting; the board will receive staff recommendations and could vote on changes in a future meeting.

Why it matters: the result maintains the current permitting standard while sending staff back to evaluate whether the regulations should be updated for freeway-facing parcels. The decision postpones any one-off variance that some members feared could create an inconsistent approval record.

What happens next: staff will prepare options and potential zone-text changes that could include a separate freeway-corridor standard or adjusted square-footage limits for freestanding signs; the applicant and other stakeholders were invited to participate in that review.