Planning Commission approves illuminated Bank of America ATM sign at 1050 Adams Street

The Planning Commission approved a major sign permit Oct. 7, 2025, allowing the installation of one internally illuminated pan channel letter wall sign for the Bank of America walk‑up ATM at 1050 Adams Street, on the building elevation facing Railroad Avenue.

Senior Planner Jackie O'Neill told commissioners the application seeks to add steady, stationary internal white LED illumination to an existing pan channel letter wall sign mounted above the ATM. "This evening we have a project for a major sign permit for the Bank of America walk up ATM located at 1050 Adams Street," O'Neill said, adding the sign would be illuminated in the evening from dusk until dawn and that its acrylic faces are overlaid with red and blue vinyl in the bank's corporate style.

The request followed an earlier administrative approval in May for a non‑illuminated sign under a minor sign permit; staff said the addition of illumination requires Planning Commission approval as a major sign permit. O'Neill said staff identified an inconsistency in the city sign code language regarding illumination of pan channel letter signs and consulted the city attorney. "He advised us to continue processing the request as though this was an allowed sign type, pending correction of the code language," O'Neill said.

Staff reported the sign measures 10.5 square feet (an earlier staff report incorrectly listed about 5 square feet) on a business frontage of approximately 20 feet 4 inches. Staff said the proposed sign is about 7 percent of the overall building façade, consistent with the city's 15 percent maximum for façade coverage. The staff report noted the city's standard allowing 1 square foot of signage per linear foot of business frontage (not to exceed 40 square feet) and said the proposed wall sign complies with that standard. Staff also reported the maximum allowed sign height in the district is 20 feet and identified the proposed sign height as 13 feet.

Based on the findings in the staff report, staff recommended the commission determine the project is exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, section 15311 (Class 11(a)), and approve the major sign permit as described in the report. No applicant representatives or members of the public were present to comment at the public hearing.

A commissioner moved to approve the permit, saying, "I think it looks like a pretty reasonable request, and I would like to make a motion that we approve it. I second." The commission then took a roll call vote; Commissioner Anderson, Commissioner Covell and Acting Chair Furdick each voted yes. The motion carried, and the commission moved on to department reports.

Clarifying details from the record: the sign area is 10.5 square feet; business frontage is about 20 feet 4 inches; proposed sign coverage is roughly 7 percent of the building façade; the proposed height is 13 feet; illumination would be steady white LED from dusk until dawn; the earlier administrative approval in May covered a non‑illuminated sign via a minor sign permit. The staff report's earlier misstatement of sign area (approximately 5 square feet) was republished to correct the error, and staff said the correction did not change the consistency analysis.

The commission's action applied only to the illumination of an existing mounted sign and did not include any other changes to the building or ATM facility. Staff said the code language regarding illuminated pan channel letter signs will be corrected at a later date.