City BZA denies request

MARTINSVILLE

The Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals denied a variance for a billboard that was planned along the Ind. 37 corridor, just north of Industrial Drive, during its meeting Tuesday night.

Richard Sprague, owner of JR Promotions, LLC, came before members of the BZA to discuss his company’s request.

According to Sprague, the company has billboards throughout the state of Indiana, and the company currently owns about 17 billboards between Bloomington and just north of Martinsville.

“A lot of those billboards are going away with the widening of the interstate,” Sprague said.

Sprague was seeking four variances from existing ordinances from the BZA to allow a new billboard to be installed less than 1,000 feet from an existing billboard, to be less than 500 feet from a residential district, the two faces to be 672 square feet, and a decrease of the setback from 50 feet to 5.

The “existing billboard” is one that was approved during the August meeting of the BZA.

“Last month, we had granted that variance because you already have an existing billboard,” BZA attorney Dakota Scheu said. “That put you in a predicament that made it practically impossible to have a billboard in that area and also comply with the state of Indiana’s rules and regulations for the expansion of the highway.”

Scheu said the billboard request before the BZA on Tuesday was different from the one in August.

“You do not have a sign there, at all,” Scheu said. “You have not had a sign there previously.”

The attorney then asked Sprague to describe a hardship that exists, which is prompting him to request the variance.

A financial hardship, according to Scheu, is not sufficient to granting a variance.

Sprague noted that the billboard will not be a harm to the community, and that it would actually benefit local businesses.

He also noted that the parcel of land the billboard would be located on is in a commercial area, and that installing a billboard would be a commercial use of the land.

The land is small, and Sprague said that it would be difficult to build a structure on the property in question.

City engineer Josh Messmer told the members that from an engineering side, he would be OK with the BZA approving the variance for the size of the billboard.

“In terms of being too close to residential, same conditions as last month,” Messmer said. “We do have the sound wall.”

Messmer read from city ordinance, and that the variance needs to arise from something peculiar to the property.

“Technically, I do not see something peculiar to the property, other than it is close to another billboard,” Messmer said.

Sprague later noted that the billboard he was requesting would be roughly 600 feet from the one approved in August.

BZA member Tom Hacker asked Sprague if the company had looked at other properties to place a billboard along the Ind. 37 corridor.

“We have, and we have not found any place, at this point, that a billboard could be built,” Sprague responded.

Raymond Lady, also with JR Promotions, said that he has been tasked with finding a location for the billboard.

“That is the spot,” Lady said. “The only thing I could come up with.”

The first zoning variance the board brought to a vote was whether it would allow the new billboard to be less than 1,000 feet from the existing billboard.

BZA member Katie Barnard made the motion to approve the variance, with Marilyn Siderewicz seconding Barnard’s motion.

The motion was denied 2-3 with Barnard and Siderewicz voting in favor of the variance while Hacker, Ann Marvel and Anna Elliott voted against.

Because the initial variance request was denied, there was no need for further action on the remaining three requests and no action was taken.

The next meeting of the Martinsville Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in council chambers at Martinsville City Hall, 59 S. Jefferson St.

~ By Lance Gideon | Reporter | Published September 25, 2019 in The Mooresville Times