GENTRY — A variance was granted by the Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday to Mc-Donalds Corporation, allowing the company to erect an over-sized sign at its new business location in Gentry.
The Commission granted McDonalds a 56.5 square-foot variance so that the company could put up a sign 36 feet tall and 14 feet, 2 inches wide. The sign will be the same size as that at the new Mc-Donalds along U.S. Highway 412 in Tontitown but smaller than the sign farther west at the Siloam Springs location, according to Steve Lewis of McDonalds Corp.
City code currently restricts sign size to 100 square feet. The actual area for the proposed sign, including the company’s golden arches, is less than 100 feet. However, since the sign ordinance measures sign space from outside edge to outside edge at a sign’s widest points, the sign area which includes the empty space inside and around the arches is 156.5 square feet, generating the variance request.
The larger sign is needed, Lewis said, so that people can see the new restaurant location in plenty oftime to safely change lanes and enter driveways. Since the restaurant location will be beside a railroad overpass on Arkansas Highway 12, the height and size of the sign will make the restaurant location visible to drivers approaching from the west as well, Lewis said.
Six of the seven-member commission voted to grant the variance for “negative space” encompassed within the sign area. Commission member Paul Church was absent for the vote.
McDonalds plans to break ground for the new restaurant by April 30 and hopes to be open for business by June 29, Lewis said. The restaurant plans to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and have 75 employees, including 14 managers. Should nighttime business be less than anticipated, the store could cut back its hours of operation, Lewis said.
In other business, the commission granted a lot split to Clay Stewart on property he owns on Allen Avenue. Also granted were conditional use permits to Jonathan Herrington, granting him permission to operate Paige Electric from his home on Windsor Court, and to Greg Alsip / Keith Sexton, allowing Sexton to locate both his business and residence at 140 W. Main Street after he purchases the property from Alsip.
The commission also discussed with Tim Mc-Cord of Signature Bank options for the disposition of lands with a preliminary plat approved in 2005 to be the Gayle Meadows Subdivision. Since no final plat was ever approved, the land remains a single tract. Streets built on the property do not conform to city code, making it impossible for the city to approve the final plat of the subdivision.
McCord was told the commission would consider any proposals brought to it but could not approve and accept the streets without them meeting city specifications. Options of a lot split and selling the land as two large tracts with private driveways was discussed.
The commission discussed a proposed ordinance making the current policy on floor-height requirements law. After heated discussion, the commission tabled the matter until Fire Chief Vester Cripps could be present to tell the commission how he would handle the approving of building permits for major renovation of homes in which the space between floor joists and the ground was less than 18 inches.
Also tabled due to lack of time was review of a proposed sign ordinance.
News, Pages 3 on 03/24/2010