Town agrees to fire department's appeal on new sign

Plans for amber LED sign include community announcements

Friday, May 8, 2009

Members of the department stated their case for the new amber LED sign to replace the old sign and the Board of Appeals voted to allow the department to put up the new sign, which posts fundraisers and community and emergency messages.

"Personally I feel that last night [Tuesday night] was a milestone met in regaining a relationship once lost between the Town of Chesapeake Beach and the North Beach Volunteer Fire Department," the fire department's Deputy Chief Donald Gibson wrote in an e-mail. "It was a favorable outcome for all parties," he said.

The Board of Appeals had some good questions that were all answered by the fire department, such as using the message board for community-based messages, Gibson said. He told the Board of Appeals the department would use the LED sign for community-based messages as it already uses the existing sign for community and emergency-type messages. And when the board asked if the department could use a smaller sign, he said a smaller sign would cause people to slow down to capture the message displayed and that would cause a problem.

The original permit was denied by the town's zoning administrator because the firehouse is considered to be on residential property, Gibson said.

The zoning administrator denied the fire department's permit request originally because the zoning ordinance states that signs in a residential area cannot be higher than 12 feet and their sign request was 40 feet, said Sharon Humm, secretary of the Board of Appeals. Even though the newly requested sign was actually smaller in size of that of the existing sign, the permit was originally denied.

The Board of Appeals decided to approve the appeal, overruling the interpretation of the zoning administrator, and granted a variance, she said.

The board put "no conditions on it. What they asked for is what was approved," Humm said.

All of the people who testified were in favor of the fire department, except one letter, she said.

"It was a good-sized crowd."

The sign is used for alerting the public of road closures, possible tornados and to advertise fundraisers, she said.

"They do so much good for the town," Humm said.

The single-colored LED sign is more aesthetically pleasing and will replace the current out-of-date dilapidated one, Gibson said.

Chesapeake Beach council member Pat Mahoney spoke in favor of the LED message board and said he has seen them in other counties and they look nice, Gibson said.

Mahoney also spoke on behalf of the fire department, saying it is a hub for the community and mentioned the department hosting rabies clinics, Gibson added.

The fire department's representing attorney Mark Davis gave the opening testimony and the fire department's chairman of the board, Ricky Cress, who was tasked to carry out the permit process of the sign, also gave testimony.

"There were a lot of positive comments on the fire department….good testimony from the public," he said.

The town's attorney will write up a resolution for the decision and then the board of appeals members will sign it, Humm said.

"And it'll be a done deal."

Gibson said he was not sure what the first message on the sign would be. Depending on when it is installed, he said, it could possibly advertise the shrimp fest scheduled for May 30.

charvat@somdnews.com