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Board approves convention‑center wayfinding signs with size limit for digital panel
Summary
The board approved a multi‑part sign variance for the expanded convention center campus, allowing directional freestanding signs, pole banners and a substituted monument sign with a digital reader board subject to a 6‑foot height cap and proportional reduction of the electronic panel.
The Board of Zoning Appeals on March 26 approved a sign‑variance package to standardize wayfinding and improve safety at the expanded convention center campus. Assistant director Jackie Scanlon and the project’s designer, Sarah Hempstead of Schmidt Associates, told the board the package includes freestanding directional signs, light‑pole banners, and a replaced monument sign with an electronic reader board.
Staff said the campus is effectively one large, multi‑parcel use in a downtown overlay that creates practical difficulties for the UDO’s typical freestanding‑sign rules (setbacks, base width, landscaping and a 4‑foot height limit in the overlay). For public-safety and circulation reasons the applicant sought deviations including locating some signs near the right-of-way and increasing a monument sign height. Staff recommended approval but proposed a condition that the monument not exceed 6 feet and that any digital portion be scaled proportionally to a reduced height.
Sarah Hempstead said the signs are intended to improve safety and unify branding across the campus. A member of the public, Randy Cassidy, urged the board to approve the wayfinding package, calling it “the right thing to do” for visitors and safety.
The board adopted staff’s recommended findings and conditions and approved the variances. The condition limits the monument sign height to 6 feet and requires proportional reduction of the digital reader board if the smaller height is used.
