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<br />cause problems with the judges ruling as it is not content neutral. Mr. Bizjak, with Brilliant Sign <br />Comp came forward. He has worked for 5 or 6 years with the City on variance requests, which are _ <br />mostly, size. The 75 square foot cap penalizes large businesses. He has taken part in at least 10 to <br />15-variance request that deal with size. He doesn't understand non-conforming signs; multi-tenant <br />signs are all over the City. Does that mean that if one tenant moves out the whole sign has to come <br />out or would the new business be restricted from having signage? There could be problems with that. <br />With traffic and safety he didn't see anything that covered directional signs in the new code. There <br />should be something that addresses these signs in the new code. Most other cities allow a 1 too 2-foot <br />setback for directional signs. He questioned the meaning of esthetically harmonious, as he was not <br />clear as to what that meant under section 1163.01 D. 1163.24 "Maximum Sign face Per lot" there <br />are not many lots that fall under this but the setback or placement of building is not taken into <br />consideration. There are 30 to 40 businesses in North Olmsted that would exceed more than a 75 <br />square foot frontage, which should allow them to have bigger signs. Mr. Bizjak questioned how a <br />40% secondary street frontage fit into the overall 1.35 if there is a 100 foot depth and the secondary <br />frontao,e allowance would be 40 and come out to 1.40 it is not clear. Great Northern mall works <br />under their own section of the sign code and he doesn't understand how that fair. Other businesses ? <br />are being discriminated against, as they don't have their own code. Mr. Spalding indicated that there j <br />were a lot of good questions raised from the audience members and questioned if Mr. Conway felt ` <br />that the code should be modified to accommodate some of the comments that were made. Mr. <br />Conway indicated that the board should take direction from the law department. Mr. Spalding <br />questioned if he thought it would be best to take the 30 days and make appropriate changes. Mr. <br />Conway indicated ,that he didn't feel that it couldn't be done in 30 days. He understands the <br />comments and questions of the board members and the audience on different provisions of the <br />ordinance, but he also understands the urgency of not having anything in place at all at this point. Mr. <br />Spalding questioned why it would be a problem if there wasn't a code in place, and questioned what <br />the hazards would be. Mr. Bizjak commented that it is general knowledge throughout the business <br />that there is no code in place right now and he hasn't seen signs popping up all over the place. Mr. <br />Conway indicated that even though signs haven't been popping up there have been inquiries about <br />signs. Mr. Spalding indicated that there had been many good questioned raised. Mr. Dubelko <br />reviewed that the Law Department was trying to make a content neutral sign code by using the IM- <br />Law sign code model. He believes that the new sign code is a good start. He is not suggesting that <br />city just pass anything by just rushing it through but a sign code does need to be in place. He doesn't <br />believe that 95% of the business community will just run out and put up signs, but someone in the <br />other 5% will use the lack of a sign code being in place to just put up what he or she wants. Once the <br />code is passed it is up to the businesses and residents to get on their Councilmen if they feel any part <br />of an ordinance needs to be changed. Mr. Asseff questioned if there is not a sign ordinance in place <br />and a sign is put up before one is in place, would the sign have to be brought into code once a sign <br />code is put in place. Mr. Dubelko indicated that it would remain in place until it required changes <br />exceeding the 25% allowed. Mr. Spalding believed that the board could address all the issues now. <br />He would just like to see an ordinance that provides protection for the City and not open the City up <br />to additional law suites. Mr. Graham, from the Chamber of Commerce sign committee asked to <br />address the board. Mr. Graham indicated that he heard many good remarks tonight, but it seamed <br />whenever the business owners get together with the City it becomes nothing more than bickering <br />which does not accomplish anything. He sent a copy of the Chambers concerns and some of those <br />concerns have been addressed tonight and a number of issues that haven't been addressed. The <br />10