The Logansport Board of Zoning Appeals on Monday approved a variance to allow for two lighted numeral signs on the canopy at McClure Oil Co.’s Mall Road location.
Chad Bailey from Vanadco Signs in Argos said the new signs would clean up the property.
“It will make that corner a lot more desirable,” he said.
A condition of approval was that the current numeral price sign affixed to a light pole on Market Street be removed. Bailey made the case that removing the light pole sign would increase visibility for traffic on Market Street and Mall Road.
The new signs should also increase safety for the company’s employees.
“There will no longer be workers going outside to change the price, especially in the winter months when it is so cold outside,” Bailey said.
Changing the signs will be done electronically inside the station. The electric signs will also be static, meaning they do not have changing messages or images.
The two LED signs will feature numbers two feet tall, a break from the ordinance that requires they be a maximum of 18 inches.
Bailey said the increase in size is necessary for traffic to read gas prices because the new signs will be higher and further back from the roadway.
Board of Zoning Appeals member Chico Rodriguez expressed hesitation about allowing the size increase.
“So, if we approve this, we will be setting a precedent,” Rodriguez said. “Other gas stations will want the bigger letters, and 24 will be the new 18.”
Bailey said McClure was interested in erecting the signs only if it was allowed the larger numbers. If the variance had not been granted, he said, the company would simply have left the current sign in place. He said the company wanted the new signs to help advertise and attract business.
“In this economy everyone is so poor, and businesses are doing anything they can to get customers,” he said.
The signs also break sign standards because they would be affixed to stand six inches above the canopy height. Bailey explained the height difference was simply an installation preference, as it would allow the company to install electrical wiring from better locations.
A final condition of approval was the removal of various promotional signs on the property. The signs advertising different products sold within the gas station’s convenience store were ordered to be taken down.
“We did not realize they were out of compliance,” said Richard McClure, the executive vice president of McClure Oil Corp.
Planning director Stan Williams said the promotional signs had not been considered a priority, but he said they did violate the ordinance and would need to be removed.
• Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com.
Local News
Gas station set to upgrade its sign
BZA approves variance from size restriction.
- Local News
-
-
Divine decade
Linda Hoffman remembers walking in to the building that houses Emmaus Mission Center Homeless Shelter more than 10 years ago.
-
County ambulance talks continue
Cass County officials met with another private firm last week as they explore which way to go with the county’s obligation to provide ambulance service.
-
City to consider reducing tipping fee
Logansport City Council members plans to discuss decreasing the amount the city receives in tipping fees from Oak Ridge Recycling and Disposal Facility at a special meeting tonight.
-
Caston officials discussing $2 million in capital projects
Caston School Corp. officials are eyeing a new bus barn and parking lots as they consider spending about $2 million on capital projects.
-
The state option: Local educators unsure of impacts of ‘No Child’ waiver
Indiana last week received a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind act, but local superintendents say the move may just swap one rigid set of guidelines for another without addressing educators’ frustrations.
-
Filings in: Three Republican primaries
Cass County Republicans will cast ballots in three races in the May 8 primary, while Democrats will vote on who to send to the state convention.
-
Logansport officials: Wireless plan not dead
Logansport City Council members last week nixed funding of a $850,000 wireless project approved late last year, but officials say the project is not completely off the radar.
-
Miami County officials say they knew of company’s past issues
Reports that a Texas-based company owed more than $500,000 in back taxes, was behind on its rent and had an executive indicted surfaced about a year before corporate leaders began discussing an expansion to Miami County.
-
Dean Baldwin’s past includes tax payment problems, indictment of executive
An aircraft service provider expanding to Miami County had a blur of bad publicity a few years before announcing its plans to come to the area.
-
Principal: Lewis Cass student attacked with piece of wood
A Lewis Cass Junior-Senior High School freshman remained hospitalized Friday after being attacked by a classmate with a piece of wood, the school’s principal said.
- More Local News Headlines
-








