Plain Board of Zoning Appeals denies variance for larger projecting sign at 138 West Main Street

The Plain Board of Zoning Appeals on Dec. 10 denied an application from Tim Dawson to install a 40.25-square-foot projecting blade sign at 138 West Main Street, ruling that the proposal exceeded local size limits and risked creating an undesirable precedent in downtown Plain City.

Zoning staff told the board the proposed sign would exceed the roughly 9-square-foot limit for projecting signs in the Uptown overlay and said allowing a sign nearly four times that size would set a "dangerous precedent." "I think it would be dangerous to set that type of precedent on that kind of sign, so staff is not in support of the variance," the zoning officer said during the staff presentation.

Dawson, who identified himself as the owner of the restaurant and entertainment venue occupying the property, asked the board for three dimensional variances: an increase in sign face area to 40.25 square feet, a projection of 44 inches (versus a 36-inch/3-foot projection…