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Staff urges Minnetonka Planning Commission to deny larger scoreboard at Hopkins High School
Summary
City planning staff recommended denying a variance for a proposed Hopkins High School scoreboard, saying the board would exceed residential height limits and copy/graphic-area limits and increase light and visual impacts on nearby homes. The Planning Commission will consider the application Feb. 19; City Council review is possible if appealed.
Riley Rooney, a planner for the City of Minnetonka, told viewers that staff recommends the Planning Commission adopt a resolution denying a height and copy-and-graphic-area variance for a proposed scoreboard at Hopkins High School. Rooney said the proposal would exceed the city's sign standards and have greater visual and light impacts on surrounding residences.
Rooney said the existing scoreboard is 30 feet tall and described the school campus as a 57-acre site that includes the high school, Hopkins North Middle School and Tangoan Elementary School. She said Hopkins Public Schools proposes a new scoreboard to be sited northwest of the existing board that would be about 41.5 feet tall.
Under Minnetonka's sign rules cited by staff, signs in residential districts must be no taller than 35 feet, and the code allows up to 500 square feet per sign face or an aggregate of 1,000 square feet in copy and graphic area. Rooney said, using the prescribed measurement method, the proposed scoreboard would be roughly 134 square feet larger than the maximum copy-and-graphic area permitted by code.
Rooney told the commission that the application does not meet the intent of the ordinance because the larger scoreboard would increase light and be visibly obtrusive to nearby homes and thereby conflict with the comprehensive plan's goals. On the practical-difficulty criterion, staff concluded there are no unique property circumstances requiring a variance and that a larger scoreboard could reasonably be constructed to comply with the height and size limits.
Rooney also noted the project includes signs for a ticketing booth and concession stand; those signs do not require variances. She reminded viewers that a motion to deny the variance would require five affirmative votes from Planning Commissioners. The Planning Commission will review the application at its Feb. 19 meeting at 6 p.m.; if the decision is appealed, the City Council would review the project on March 9. Rooney directed members of the public to submit written comments through the ISD 270 scoreboard variance page at minnetonkamatters.com, and said written comments will be provided to the Planning Commission and City Council before their meetings.
The staff presentation itself did not record a vote; the decision will be made at the Planning Commission meeting.
