Board approves digital monument sign for Lawrence North High School with neighborhood conditions

The Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, Division 3, granted a variance for a 12-foot-tall monument sign with a 40-square-foot digital display at Lawrence North High School, 7802 Hague Road, by a 4-1 vote (Joanna Taft, Percy Bland, Brian Hannon and Rod Bohannon yes; Rhianna Bender no). The board voted on case 2025UV3-018 after testimony from the petitioner, neighborhood representatives and staff.

The variance allows a digital-display element that is otherwise restricted in the site's SU2 (special use) zoning. Petitioners said the proposed sign replaces a digital display that had been approved in 2006 and that the school and district use such signs to communicate weather delays, events and other community information. Petitioner counsel Joe Calderon said the display ‘‘allows for just a more efficient way to communicate with the public for very important things, whether it be weather delays, school vacations, performances, etcetera.’’

Staff recommended denial. A staff member explained that the SU2 special use districts do not permit electronic video message signs (EVMS) or digital display signs under the consolidated zoning and subdivision ordinance and pointed to separation requirements for digital displays; staff told the board it did not find sufficient hardship to support a variance.

Neighbors and remonstrators voiced safety and quality-of-life concerns. Scott Thien, speaking for the Eagle Nest Property Owners Association, said his board had ‘‘voted unanimously to support the proposed sign, but only with the inclusion of 2 additional conditions’’ discussed in meetings with the petitioner. Resident Gary Jones warned about driver distraction, saying, ‘‘This sign is located near a traffic light.’’ Resident Kelly Dyer urged approval, saying the neighborhood ‘‘deserves a 21st century sign’’ and asking the board to grant the variance.

Councilor Dan Boots (District 3) spoke in support of the school’s petition and told the board the petitioner had been ‘‘quite reasonable in meeting with the neighbors’’ and had agreed to changes. In response to neighborhood requests and meetings with several neighborhood associations, the school submitted written commitments that the board discussed before voting. Those commitments, as described at the hearing, include moving the sign approximately 175 feet north of the petitioner’s original proposed spot, turning the digital display off one hour after sunset unless there is a recognized event, and keeping messages frozen (static) except when changed according to the commitments. The petitioner also tendered a commitment naming neighborhood associations as parties with standing to raise compliance concerns; the petitioner said it did not intend to grant enforcement rights to every individual household.

Board discussion referenced prior approvals of similar signs within Lawrence Township and the broader county, but staff said the current ordinance language (as carried forward after the ND rezone implemented April 1, 2016) treats digital-display signs in SU2 districts as disallowed absent an appropriate rezoning or other circumstances. After hearing testimony and commitments from the petitioner and neighbors, the board approved the variance by a 4-1 vote. The staff recommendation of denial was noted during deliberations.

The board instructed that the sign and the petitioner’s commitments be enforced administratively and through the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services’ compliance processes; the petitioner said it would work with staff to finalize the site plan and commitments for administrative approval.