By Tom Henderson • Staff Writer • 

Burger King can't super-size its sign

Marcus Larson / News-Register##The current Burger King sign exceeds city height regulations.
Marcus Larson / News-Register##The current Burger King sign exceeds city height regulations.

The owner of the local Burger King franchise on Highway 99W couldn’t have it his way when he asked the McMinnville Planning Commission for an extra-large sign Thursday. Jonathan Aliabadi asked commissioners to grant an exception to local sign rules, but they denied his request.

The current Burger King sign stands 30 feet high and encompasses 182 square feet, Principal Planner Ron Pomeroy told commissioners. “As the sign laws currently exist along Highway 99W, the maximum sign height is 20 feet and the maximum sign space is 125 square feet for each of two freestanding sign faces,” he said.

Sign laws have long proven controversial in McMinnville.

The McMinnville City Council passed an updated sign law in 2009, but decided to wait nine years to begin enforcing it, presumably giving owners ample time to bring their signs into compliance. But an uproar arose as D-Day neared, and the council decided Sept. 12 to wait another year and take a new look at the issue in the interim.

As a result, planning commissioners agreed Thursday to sign off on zoning code amending extending the deadline for bringing nonconforming signs into compliance. Pomeroy said the extension gives the city council the time it needs to make sure the enforcement process doesn’t violate state or federal laws or infringe on local property rights.

However, they weren’t willing to grant Aliabadi an exemption.

Comments

Denise

Good. McMinnville doesn’t need another huge, towering, gaudy Fat Food sign.

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