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Commission approves sign-size and letter-height variances for Panda Express at Taylor Plaza
Summary
The commission approved four sign variances for a new Panda Express at Taylor Plaza (3000 North Main Street), allowing increased sign heights, letter heights and an extra band sign after staff said the proposed signage aligns with existing development signage and no written opposition was received.
The Taylor Planning and Zoning Commission approved four variances (PZ2025-2580) permitting increased sign quantity, increased sign heights (including one up to 9 feet 10 inches), and larger letter heights for a proposed Panda Express at 3000 North Main Street in Taylor Plaza (parcel numbers listed in the agenda packet).
Planner Preston Gannon summarized staff's review, saying the city sent four notices and received no written opposition. Staff recommended the variances in part because the proposed signs are familiar corporate logos and would remain below the city’s 15% façade-signage cap; Gannon said the requests would make the building signage more legible from North Main and more consistent with existing signs in the same shopping center.
Gina Penny of Atlas Signs, the sign company representing Panda Express, told the commission the restaurant would lose on-brand visibility if the signs were limited to the standard 3-foot band-sign height. “If we reduce that, that has to go smaller. So you're gonna have a 9 and you're not gonna be able to see it,” Penny said, arguing larger letters and greater sign height are needed for motorists to read the brand at distance.
Commissioners questioned whether granting the variances would set a precedent and discussed that the city's sign standards are written for more walkable, human‑scale development rather than auto-oriented corridors. Staff noted monument signage near Main is controlled by private development agreements and the city cannot require a private owner to change it; rotating or reorienting building signage could also allow compliance, but corporate branding often prevents that.
A commissioner moved to approve the variances on the basis that the proposed signage is consistent with existing design elements in the shopping center that were compliant under the previous development code; another commissioner seconded. The motion passed by voice vote; the meeting record shows commissioners voting “Aye” and the chair declared the motion approved. The transcript contains two different parcel numbers for the site (R665404 and R665409) in different agenda sections; that inconsistency is noted on the record.
