St. Raymond-St. Elizabeth Church will replace an existing sign with an electronic message center at 1420 Sappington Road.
The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the plan at its meeting Sept. 14. Ward 4 Alderman Tony Kennedy said the church has been an ally to the city in the past and he wants to see it thrive moving forward.
“(The church) has been a wonderful aspect of the community, I think the sign will be a pleasant addition to their campus,” Kennedy said.
The new sign would be four feet closer to the church, allowing for increased visibility for turning cars.
“In my driving route and taking a look at (the existing sign) it is a bit of an unfriendly situation,” City Planner John Cruz said at a planning commission meeting Sept. 8. “Moving this a bit further away from the road is going to be safer than what’s currently there.”
The new sign would be made of Texture Plus material, an artificial brick material.
Cruz said no nearby properties have frontage facing the new sign’s proposed location and nearby residents were notified of the plan by mail before it was heared at the Sept. 14 Board of Aldermen meeting.
Despite previous disapproval of new EMC plans by the commission recently, Cruz said this is not an area where a lot of them will pop up, so it shouldn’t have any negative impact on neighborhood character.
The sign will have to stay off between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. according to the new development code.
Commissioner Greg Zipfel had concerns the light intensity and potential distraction would be strengthened because the area doesn’t have many street lights.
Petitioner Jerry Brendel said the sign will have an automatic dimmer for when the sun goes down, and there won’t be any moving words or picture on the screen.
“It’s basically the same thing we’ve got with the existing marquee,” said Brendel.
Brendel said he would have no problem dimming the sign further if there were to be a complaint, but the commission added the condition that if staff finds the sign to be a nuisance, the church must abate it.
