The League City Zoning Board of Adjustments and Building and Standards Commission on Thursday denied two variance requests for a pylon sign at 601 East FM 646 that would have raised its height from 20 feet to 30 feet and increased its area from 100 square feet to 182 square feet.

Mark Lening Schmidt, planning manager for the City of League City Planning Department, told the board the requests stem from a Texas Department of Transportation expansion that took about 7,000 square feet of the property’s frontage and removed the existing monument sign. Schmidt said the applicant seeks a taller, larger pylon sign to remain visible above the new bridge and approach structures.

The board considered the height and area variances separately after debate among members about whether the two elements should be treated together. A motion to approve the requested increase in sign area failed. A later motion to approve the 50% height increase received more affirmative votes but did not meet the board’s 75% approval threshold and was therefore denied.

Applicant representative Maureen Silic of 4 D Sign Works, speaking on behalf of the property owner, said the existing sign location and the new bridge would make a 20-foot sign difficult to see from eastbound FM 646. “If it was 30 feet, there’d be no problem,” Silic said, and she estimated the bridge’s edge at roughly “21 feet 4 inches,” saying much of a 20-foot sign would be “completely covered.”

Owner Laura Kaler described the usable area near the driveway and said relocating the sign to the far east of the parcel would move it away from the business entrance and existing parking. “With both [the streetlight and monument sign] removed, it leaves that little bit of peninsula where we can still put our signage without compromising any of our parking,” Kaler said.

Members expressed concern that the requested area increase — an 82% jump over the 100-square-foot limit in the code — represented a substantial policy change better handled by City Council than by the board. One member said the board’s role is not to set sign policy and described an 82% increase as “huge.” Another member favored approving height but not area, noting the two limits are separate clauses in the ordinance.

The board’s staff presentation referenced Table 3 of Article 8 (Signs) in the League City Unified Development Code, Chapter 125 of the League City Code of Ordinances, as the regulatory standard the variances would modify. Schmidt and other staff noted similar height variances have been requested elsewhere along major corridors but said this was the first request in that corridor for an increase in sign area.

After public comment and board discussion the motion to approve the area variance failed; the motion to approve the height variance received affirmative votes but did not reach the board’s required 75% approval threshold and therefore failed. No variances were granted.

Staff announced the board will meet again in February; the next scheduled meeting date given at the close of the session was Thursday, Feb. 6.