Three projects get Macedonia planning panel approval
MACEDONIA – A small addition to the back of the IHOP restaurant, tower modifications at the under-construction Don Basch Jewelers building and signage at The Wave car wash all were approved Jan. 9 by the city’s planning commission.
IHOP plans to add 190 square feet (10.25 by 18.5 feet) to the northeast corner of its building on Route 82 to provide additional storage adjacent to its cooler/freezer area. The site is zoned B-1 convenience business district.
One parking space will be eliminated with the addition, but the remaining 57 spaces are compliant with the zoning code, according to city planner Brian Frantz.
The city’s architectural design consultant has suggested the back wall of the addition be slightly bumped out from the existing building’s back wall, and Frantz said the architectural elevations must comply with Chapter 1172 of the planning/zoning code.
The 3,400-square-foot The Wave car wash is to be erected along Route 8 between KFC and the Key Inn. A 49-square-foot wall sign is planned on the south side of the building toward the parking lot, as is a 59-square-foot monument sign facing Route 8.
Frantz explained the total signage is within the 110 square feet allowed by the planning/zoning code, and the developer has received three variances from the zoning board of appeals related to the monument sign.
One variance allows the sign to be 10 feet high instead of the required 8 feet, one allows it to be 19 square feet larger than required and the other allows its electric message center portion to take up 40% of the total area instead of the required 30%.
One originally proposed wall sign on the side of the building facing Route 8 was eliminated. The approved monument sign’s letters will be 12 inches, which Frantz said complies with the code because the speed limit on Route 8 is 50 miles per hour.
The applicant agreed to look into the panel’s suggestion that the monument sign be made to look like a single cohesive unit rather than like three separate pieces (oval-shaped logo, message center and brick base).
Meanwhile, panelists voiced some disagreements with proposed revisions to the tower portion facing Route 8 of the 6,642-square-foot Don Basch Jewelers building off Fairlane Drive. However, a compromise was reached.
“I believe the signage box submitted with the change to the windows [eliminating them] doesn’t add to the overall design of the beauty of the all-brick exterior,” said architectural consultant Pam Schultz in her memo to the panel.
She favored changing the facade “to create visual interest, as well as to maintain the ‘daylighting’ windows which were previously submitted,” and she also favored lowering the tower height slightly – to about 32 feet.
“I believe the existing muntin bar windows previously approved should remain on the tower element because it enhances the corner frontage at Routes 8 and 82,” said Frantz. The board favored a design which would reconfigure the signage and retain the windows.
Frantz also recommended the use of individual channel letters/logos on the wall sign as opposed to a cabinet style.
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Macedonia planning panel approves 3 projects
