Acting on the advice of the city attorney, the Commerce City Council plans to reject a recommendation from the city planning commission that would allow CVS Pharmacy to erect a scrolling sign.
The council will act on the planning commission’s recommendation Monday night at 6:30 in the Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Center.
But the proposed action, as discussed at a city council “work session” meeting Monday night, does not mean that the door is closed on CVS’ quest to get the sign.
The council position, as recommended by city attorney John Stell, is that the planning commission has no standing to ask for what amounts to a zoning change.
“The city of Commerce does not have a request from any of the property owners in this district for a rezoning,” explained city manager Clarence Bryant Monday night. “The planning commission is not authorized to take it upon itself to go out and rezone property.”
The planning commission voted 3-2 Dec. 27 to re-draw the northwest boundary line of the central business district to exclude Hardee’s, CVS, and the house behind CVS from the district. The main immediate result of the move would be to allow CVS to erect a scrolling readerboard sign similar to the one operated by its competitor, Walgreens. Walgreens, just across the intersection, is not in the central business district.
But the request did not come from CVS. The motion to move the boundary line was made by planning commission chairman Greg Perry.
To effect such a change, said Bryant, the action must come with an application from the property owner or by request of the city council, followed by two weeks of advertisement in The Commerce News of the pending change and by a public hearing.
Previously, CVS did request a variance in the city’s sign ordinance, but it withdrew the request, apparently figuring the city council would deny the request.
At the work session, Bryant read a letter from Steve Perry, brother of the planning commission chairman, who is the “pharmacist in charge” at CVS, apologizing for CVS not having a spokesperson at the planning commission and asking that the council support the planners’ recommendation.
Another complicating factor is that apparently CVS has no standing to ask for the change either, since it is a tenant in a building owned by Vandiver Family Properties LLC. The property owner can either make the request or authorize CVS in writing to make the request on its behalf.
“It sets a dangerous precedent if we voted to rezone somebody’s property without their request,” stated councilman Clark Hill.
Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. argued against even considering a zoning change at the time. He told the council that the city’s comprehensive plan calls for an overlay district with Jackson County along U.S. 441 and Hwy. 98 to get the zoning between the two governments synchronized. That district may or may not include the properties in question, he added. Negotiations on the nature of that overlay are just now beginning, he said.
“This is not the time to make any changes like this until we get our overlay district set,” he said.
