COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The dispute over a sign between the City of Coldwater and the Coldwater Elks Lodge has gone to court.
After the Elks were cited by the City, an informal hearing was held last week in front of Magistrate David Coyle.
It was continued until June 17th to allow the Elks to get legal representation.
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.
According to a post on their Facebook page last week, the Elks say the new sign is the same size as their original sign. They 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 of 2017 so that the Elks could install the new sign but the city’s Neighborhood Services Department has 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.
