Monroeville board approves Coxcomb Restaurant electronic sign variance with night-time limits

The Monroeville Zoning Hearing Board on Oct. 1 approved a dimensional variance allowing Coxcomb Restaurant to install an electronic message center that increases a sign side from the ordinance limit of 24 square feet to 32 square feet at 5060 William Penn Highway.

The variance, listed on the agenda as 25-15-A, was requested by applicant William Patterson, who told the board the restaurant lacks visibility from the highway and is seeking a larger, programmable sign to attract passing motorists. The board approved the request with conditions limiting overnight hours and requiring reduced nighttime brightness.

William Patterson, owner/applicant, told the board the restaurant struggles to attract drivers who pass the site. “We have what I would consider to be a very, significant lack of visibility,” Patterson said, adding that “around 1,000,000 cars per month pass our restaurant.” He said the restaurant controls the sign content and that installation is paid through a multi-year subscription that began in July.

Patterson described the proposed display as a static electronic message center (no animation) sized to a roughly 4-by-8 format that would sit between existing plaza sign uprights. He said the business can set timers and dimming controls and offered to turn the sign off after hours and reduce brightness at night.

Neighbors opposed the size and potential nighttime effects. Ralph Liotti, vice president of the Asbury homeowners association and a nearby resident, said an existing nearby electronic sign “drives you insane” and expressed concern about drivers’ distraction at a busy intersection and about nighttime light entering nearby homes. “My daughter’s bedroom … she has special needs. My issue is … sleeping at night with the light flashing,” Liotti said.

Samuel Lee Allen IV, a resident across the street, said he understood the business’s need for visibility but objected to increasing the sign area beyond the ordinance. “I would like to potentially have it reined in to to allow to qualify with the existing ordinance,” Allen said.

Board members and other speakers discussed technical limits and local rules. A board member noted that Monroeville requires a minimum 15-second interval between message changes for electronic signs. The presiding officer (identified in the record as K) and board members pressed the applicant on image distortion at smaller sizes and on how the sign would be controlled.

During discussion Patterson agreed to conditions sought by neighbors and the board: limit the sign’s hours so it is turned off one hour after the restaurant closes and turned back on at 7 a.m. (the applicant said weekend opening at 7 a.m. would be preferable), and to keep the display dimmer at night. The applicant clarified closing times: weeknights generally at 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays about 11 p.m. (sometimes later), and Sundays at 8 p.m. He said the sign vendor charges a subscription spread over five years and that the vendor does not control the posted content.

A motion to approve the variance with the stated conditions was made by the presiding officer and seconded; the board voted in favor. The motion’s language on the record was to approve the dimensional variance to permit an electronic message center totaling 32 square feet per side (exceeding the 24-square-foot limit) at the listed property, subject to the conditions described above. The meeting record shows the motion carried with affirmative votes from the board; no opposing votes were recorded on the transcript.

The decision permits Coxcomb Restaurant to proceed with the larger electronic sign under the conditions the board attached; the transcript did not record subsequent permitting steps or a timeline for installation.

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Notes: The item was recorded on the agenda as 25-15-A, property listed as Tax Parcel 1244 L 372 in the C-2 Business Commercial Zoning District at 5060 William Penn Highway. The board and nearby residents discussed safety, sleep disturbance, hours of operation, brightness controls, and the local 15-second message-change standard for electronic signs.