The Stuart Town Council approved a 30-day temporary permit for a sign constructed by New Life Community Church at its Dec. 18 meeting, deferring a final decision to its Jan. 15 session.
Town Manager Bryce Simmons said the LED scrolling message sign, located at 515 Landmark Drive, was constructed without prior approval and raised complaints from nearby property owners Allen and Kathryn Ziegler.
“Basically, it’s a scrolling message sign, LED I think it is, that is programmable, can show different messages, different colors,” Simmons said.
The sign violates several of the town’s zoning codes, including a provision against flashing or intermittent lights.
“Any flashing sign or device displaying flashing or intermittent lights or lights of changing degrees of intensity, except a sign indicating the time and/or temperature alternating on not less than on a five second cycle.”
Simmons noted the sign’s scrolling messages were difficult to read while driving, further complicating the matter. “Because as you’re passing, you couldn’t read the full message,” he said.
Simmons said issues with the sign were brought to the town’s attention by Allen and Kathryn Ziegler, who are property owners adjacent to the sign. The Ziegler’s sent a letter to the town on December 10 and included three zoning codes they believed the sign was in violation of.
“From the letter he (Allen Ziegler) basically states that, ‘the bottom line of the discussion was that we were directly asked by the Planning Commission what compromise we would be willing to offer. While we reluctantly offer resolution, it is our position that we should not bear any responsibility in determining what we would be willing to accept regarding the sign violations. It is the responsibility of the town’s governing bodies to ensure fair enforcement of zoning codes and not to place an infringed property owner in the position to negotiate compliance in front of an audience of nonsuppurative parishioners,’” Simmons said.
From the discussion and cooperation of the Planning Commission, Simmons said it came up with three conditions of approval for the sign to receive a special use permit.
The conditions are the automatic shutoff of the sign daily at 8 p.m., each message displayed on the sign remains stationary for a minimum of five seconds before transitioning to the next message, and the sign’s brightness being set to its lowest setting to mitigate any light pollution or visual disruption to the surrounding area.
“Based off of my understanding of the sign’s zoning the biggest thing was obviously the five second transition because we do have in our ordinance that any message should be displayed for a minimum of five seconds. So that to me, that made it more in compliance with the zoning as written,” Simmons said.
Since the recommendations were made, Simmons said they are being met by the Church.
“The sign cuts of at 8 p.m., and honestly you can’t even see the sign after the lights cut off. I believe that the message displaying for five seconds does allow people that are passing by to get that quick information that they’re looking for, and the brightness level is definitely much more maintained based off of the original observation of it ,” he said.
Mayor Ray Weiland said he wanted to hear directly from the Zieglers how they feel about the compromise the Planning Commission came up with.
“Looking at the letter, I’m not sure if they would say that would be ultimately reasonable,” he said.
While he doesn’t want to speak on the Zieglers behalf, Simmons said it was apparent at the Planning Commission meeting that removal of the sign was the only thing they felt was appropriate.
“I do feel based off of the recommendations that we can approve the sign under a special use permit. If any of those conditions fail to be followed, then we would have reason to have additional enforcement,” he said.
Councilmember Jeff Houchins also suggested the Church should look at having the sign set to automatically turn on and off with the sunrise and sunset.
“Kind of appease a little bit on some of the anxiety from the light that they’re complaining about,” Houchins said.
As they are unsure if a public hearing is required to approve the sign’s special use permit, the council decided to revisit the matter at the January 15 meeting.
However, for a special use permit, Weiland said ideally the council should hold a public hearing.
“And have the Zieglers come in and give their side of the story certainly and go from there. The compromise that the Planning Commission came up with I think is a good one. I certainly agree with what they’ve established here,” Weiland.
The meeting marked the final session for Weiland as mayor. He was recognized for 23 years of service on the council, including 12 years as mayor. Town Manager Bryce Simmons presented Weiland with an award in his honor.
Mayor-elect Terry Dalton will assume the role in January.
The council also:
*Approved a resolution for the Downtown Revitalization Project.
*Discussed One Family Production’s year-end review.
*Approved meeting minutes.
*Heard updates on public works projects and town policies.
*Approved bill payments.
