The Board of Zoning Appeals is meeting 04/19/2021 at 7PM.
I kind of love stuff like this. I find it really interesting to see some of the problems and issues that arise from local ordinances and how those issues are responded to.
The last Board of Zoning Appeals meeting happening in November and resulted in variances for all applicants. We’ll see if Monday’s applicant is as fortunate.
The Board is going to be hearing on one appeal. Emmanuel United Methodist Church, which is on the corner of College Avenue and Meade Street in Downtown Appleton, is requesting to be allowed to erect next to their current sign a second sign advertising the fact that Appleton Music Academy is housed in their building. There are two issues with this request.
Firstly, Section 23-522(b)(1) of the Zoning Ordinance only allows a second ground sign if both street frontages are at least 200 feet long; however, EUMC’s lot has three frontage sides only one of which is over 200 feet long.
Secondly, the proposed location of the new sign is right next to the existing ground sign, but section 23-522(b)(4) of the Zoning Ordinance prohibits 2 ground signs on the same street frontage.
[I find myself a little torn. The part of me that thinks government regulations should be cut way down looks at the proposed sign and thinks it doesn’t seem like it will be a problem and maybe the city’s zoning ordinance is too strict and should be rewritten.
The part of me that likes seeing the law applied accurately and fairly looks at EUMC’s request and thinks that the church is really stretching the definition of what an “unnecessary hardship” is. It’s not as if their proposal is the only option available to them. They could put an Appleton Music Academy sign on the side of their building or they could replace their current sign with a new one that has space to advertise Appleton Music Academy’s presence. There may also be a way to modify their current sign to add Appleton Music Academy to it. All in all, the documents in the agenda packet don’t seem to make a good case that the church is experiencing unnecessary hardship due to not being able to erect the sign they want, but perhaps their in-person arguments will be more persuasive.]
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=856512&GUID=017BBA1F-7194-4EFA-9E86-987163858544&Options=info|&Search=
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