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After the dust settled, stirred during a debate between Warsaw plan commissioners Joe Thallemer and Alan Clingman regarding the right of remonstrance, the text amendment to the sign ordinance was tabled until next month.
A sign ordinance task force has been hammering at the text amendment since May.
Task force members are Jim Gast, plan commissioner; Trish Brown, city councilwoman; Bill Rhoades, city councilman; Jeff Noffsinger, city planner for Warsaw; and Kristy Mehlberg, assistant city planner.
Thursday the task force reported on its most recent conclusions:
The Board of Zoning Appeals process was removed; existing signs would be removed from the city business district when leases expire; spacing between signs would be reduced to 750 feet; and off-premise signs would be allowed only in C-3, C-5 and I-2 zonings.
Sign sizes will be restricted to a maximum of 300 square feet and 36 feet in height with a maximum of 600 square feet per zone lot.
Off-premise signs are subject to a 100-foot spacing from on-premise sign and subject to a 25-foot front yard setback.
Based on input from the outdoor sign vendors, empty billboards will be removed after 30 days.
According to the proposed text, necessary permits will be filed with the plan department and reviewed. Notified adjacent property owners would have 15 days to object to a sign.
Thallemer, plan commission president, said there was no reason for the adjacent property owners to be notified because the sign criteria was so clear-cut. Violations, he felt, would be caught and remedied at the plan department level.
Clingman didn't want to see the rights of remonstrance removed.
"People have invested in their properties and are committed to living in their house," he said. "They need a voice if they so choose."
Thallemer said the ordinance calls for lights to be shielded, preventing light shining in someone's bedroom and, because of the zoning restrictions to C-3, C-5 and I-2, few residential areas would be affected.
On the other hand, Clingman could cite a few residential areas which might be affected; "at least you have that opportunity to sit down and talk it out."
Because only four of the seven commissioners attended the meeting, the men had to be unanimous in their decision-making.
The text amendment was tabled until the November meeting.
In other business the board gave final plat approval to Pheasant Ridge subdivision, off Ranch Road, south of Eisenhower Park.
At the September meeting several conditions were attached to approval. They were rectified to the commissioners' satisfaction.
Brad Jackson, developer, Jackson Development Inc., and Jim Kimpel, PES and Associates, advised the board development of 80 lots has been divided into three phases, with lots one through 24 being considered first.
Plan commissioners are Joe Thallemer, president, Dewey Lawshe, Richard Keeven and Alan Clingman. Absent were Jim Gast, Lacy Francis and Jeff Grose.
