COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A formal hearing in the dispute between the City of Coldwater and the Coldwater Elks Lodge over the club’s sign has been scheduled for August 15 in Branch County District Court.
The Elks Lodge says they have hired local attorney and club member Rhonda Ives along with her associate from Oakland County who specializes in ordinance laws. The club says the case will focus on the new sign being the same size as the original sign, their verbal agreement with City Manager Keith Baker to replace the sign, current ordinance laws as well as other key points.
According to the Elks, three city officials have been subpoenaed as the club tries to prove they had support from the city before the new sign was constructed.
The Coldwater Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-0 last December to deny two variance requests concerning the new electronics sign. City Planner Dean Walrack said at the time the vote was based on a failure to meet any of the five criteria for approval.
The Elks were asking for a six square foot dimensional area variance to maintain 38 square feet of freestanding signage as well as a variance from the City’s Zoning Code to maintain the freestanding sign at a height of 11 feet, nine inches. The zoning code limits freestanding signage square footage to 32 square feet. Freestanding signs in the city can be no higher than six feet.
The Elks felt the sign added to the aesthetics of the area and their activities were not in competition with any other activity or business. They also felt they had a verbal agreement with the city that they were grandfathered in to replace the original sign. The Elks said the original sign had to be replaced because its physical condition was deteriorating, it was unsafe and it was falling down.
The Coldwater Historic District Commission approved a certificate of appropriateness on a 5-0 vote in October 2017 so that the Elks could install the new sign but the city’s Neighborhood Services Department had some issues with the variances and they recommended they not be granted.
They wanted the sign built to the design approved by the Historic District Commission and as submitted to Neighborhood Services when the sign permit was issued.
