Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Signage Variance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Staff recommends approval of sign variance for 7515 Cermak Road
Summary
At a Planning Commission public hearing, staff recommended allowing additional and larger wall signs for a tenant at 7515 Cermak Road (former Miller's), citing the site's PUD status, existing sign footprints, and corridor precedents; commissioners questioned code changes and permanence.
Staff presented a sign-variance application for 7515 Cermak Road and recommended the commission approve relief to allow additional wall signs and greater square footage than currently permitted under the zoning code. The applicant is identified in the record as "KPOD" (also transcribed once as "Kapod"); staff entered the applicant packet and presentation slides into the record.
Staff explained the request in terms of the municipal sign code. "Wayfinding signage is important because it helps people locate where they are and get to the destinations that are part of that shopping center," a staff presenter said while showing day and night views and proposed elevations. The presentation described north-facing, east- and west-elevation, and interior-facing (south) signs; staff emphasized the proposal generally reuses existing sign locations and architectural cutouts previously occupied by Miller's.
Staff reviewed the variance standards in Title 14.01 (noting subsections cited in the record as 0.09(c) and 0.09(d)) and said the site’s inclusion in a larger planned-unit development (PUD) is a material factor. Staff explained that the code normally limits signage to about 50 square feet on parcels under 3 acres, but that parcels treated as part of a larger PUD could be allowed 100 square feet; staff described the applicant’s request as seeking square-footage relief consistent with that PUD treatment and with prior variances in the corridor. "So they'd be only asking for a 33 increase in square footage, not a basic 150% increase in square footage," the presenter said, characterizing the difference in how the parcel might be measured for sign-area purposes.
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about earlier variances and the 2021 sign-code rewrite that altered nonconforming status for existing signage. Staff said they had contacted the mall for records and that, if granted, the variance would run with the land and apply to future tenants at the location. No final commission vote on the variance is recorded in the provided transcript segment; staff recommended approval and the record was entered for decision at a later point.
