BZA approves variance extension

MARTINSVILLE — The Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) approved an extension for a variance it approved in August 2019.

During that August 2019 meeting, Derick Fabert, a real estate representative with Reagan Outdoor Advertising, gave a presentation about a proposed digital billboard that would be located along Robert Curry Drive near the future I-69.

At the time, the BZA unanimously approved the variance.

On Tuesday night, Fabert returned to the BZA to request an extension of that variance.

According to Fabert, the digital billboard is intended to replace another billboard that was removed because of the I-69 project.

“Building a billboard along the interstate also requires a permit from INDOT,” Fabert told members of the board Tuesday evening.

He noted that the company began working on that permit request with the state last fall.

“And we completed the process in early December,” Fabert said. “However, INDOT did delay the approval due to concerns with the final positioning of I-69.”

The delay was extended even further when an INDOT official who issues the permits left his employment with the state.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also caused delays in the permitting process for the billboard.

“We come here today, requesting an extension of the variance from the BZA,” Fabert said.

Once the permit is granted, the company will need time for the billboard to be constructed, and then installed at the site.

When the BZA approved the variance back in 2019, it gave the company one year to construct the billboard.

That one year is coming up, which led the company to request a one-year extension to its initial request.

“We would have to have it built, technically, by the end of this month,” Fabert said. “Honestly, we don’t think a permit will come in the next few days. We would like a one-year extension.”

Both BZA attorney Dakota VanLeeuwen and chairwoman Anne Marvel told Fabert that the board can only grant an extension of up to one year.

“This is only going to last you one year,” Marvel told Fabert.

BZA member Tom Hacker asked about the I-69 corridor plan that was adopted by the county in November 2019.

Gary Oakes, the city’s interim director of planning and engineering, said that the city approved the same corridor plan.

“Both of those corridor plans require a half a mile on the highway for any sign placement,” Oakes said.

The proposed billboard, Oakes noted, would be well within that half mile zone from the interstate.

Oakes also noted that the city did consider potential safety concerns related to the billboard.

“We want the driver on the highway paying attention to what is going on in the road, and not reading a sign that is changing periodically as they go by,” Oakes said.

But, since the application was presented to the city, the Grand Valley Overpass bridge has been completed.

Because of that bridge, the visibility of the sign in southbound lanes of traffic is reduced.

“It is going to be very visible to see from northbound traffic,” Oakes noted.

Members of the BZA approved the variance extension unanimously, 5-0.

The next meeting of the Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.