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Tuesday, 01 April 2008 |
McDonald’s plans to build new area store in next several years
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
With a new building with a new orientation possible in the next several years, owners of the local McDonald’s restaurant petitioned for and received a variance to exceed the square footage for their local store’s signs.
McDonald’s owners Mary and Jeff Monfort, along with Sign Creations owner Pat Giswint, petitioned Monday for the right to re-install an existing sign in a new location, as well as install a smaller sign in front of the restaurant at 1376 Bellefontaine St.
“They have always had a high-rise sign at their restaurant, but about a month ago due to high winds and with the age of the sign the anchor bolts showed wear so the Monforts took the sign down,” Giswint told Wapakoneta City Zoning Board of Appeals members at Monday’s meeting. “Now, they want to put the sign back up if they can because they have noticed a significant decrease in their sales from traveling traffic on Interstate 75. The locals go there and probably always will and they have supported the store greatly, but they would like to recover their interstate customers.”
The restaurant saw a 23.9 percent dip in sales from midnight to 5 a.m. and 17 percent drop in sales from 8 p.m. to midnight since the sign was taken down.
Sales in preceding months increased during those time periods, said Jeff Monfort, who owns stores in Celina, Coldwater and St. Marys with his wife, Mary.
Giswint said the Monforts would like to the signs to be built in locations that the signs would likely be placed after the store is rebuilt and its orientation changed.
Giswint said McDonald’s typically changes the orientation to show additional store frontage on the street. If this occurs, the large sign out front would not be suitable, so the Monforts would like to construct the sign on property at the southeast corner of their east parking lot. A smaller sign would be installed at the front of the store.
“The buildings in the future, like the one we are probably looking at doing and the fact we are speculating redoing the building in two to three years, would be bigger and longer and would mean we would have to come out front,” Mary Monfort said.
Zoning Board of Appeals members granted the 300-square foot variance permitting the Monforts to construct signs totaling approximately 290 square foot of signage, an increase of approximately 100 square feet from the 198 square feet of signage used for the past 30 years.
Wapakoneta City Planning Commission members approved the new signage based on the variance approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
By ordinance, the Monforts are permitted 240-square feet of signage based on five times the frontage of their building, which is 48 feet. If a new building is constructed, the frontage of the new building is expected to be approximately 100 feet, permitting them 500 square feet of signage.
The larger McDonald’s sign, which is 20 feet wide by 19 feet tall, is to be built at a height of approximately 100 feet. City ordinance permits businesses to have signs reach a height of 125 feet within 1,500 feet from Interstate 75.
The smaller 6-foot square sign would reach a height of 17 to 20 feet and would include a reader board announcing specials and promotions.
Zoning Board of Appeals members also voted to waive the 30-day waiting period.
Judy and Mike Walter, 203 E. Pearl St., voiced objections to the sign along Bellefontaine Street because it would not adhere to sign restrictions in the city’s comprehensive plan which is being drafted.
Judy Walter is a member of the Wapakoneta City Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee.
During the Planning Commission meeting, Mayor Rodney Metz inquired if the Monforts would be willing to construct the bases of each sign to match the building, which are recommendations being proposed as part of the comprehensive plan. He said they would not be subject to the comprehensive plan requirements since it has not been adopted.
“We are community minded and we will work the best we can with what is palatable and what you are looking for,” Jeff Monfort said. “We are open to working with the city. I can assure you that whatever we do we always try to do it in a way that is attractive for the members of the community and those traveling down the highway.”
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 April 2008 )
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