Tiverton zoners nix multiple Longplex signs

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It was "no-go" for this 244 square foot, internally LED-illuminated sign, with changeable message center, that was scuttled in the face of near-certain zoning board rejection.

TIVERTON — The Longplex sports complex on Industrial Way went to the Tiverton Zoning Board of Review (ZBR) for a hearing on August 2, asking for six signs, two of them huge, to be erected at the athletic facility’s site. 
It left the hearing with just one sign approved by the zoners.
In a recent decision decision (formally published Aug. 31), the ZBR announced that it was approving a "monument sign 100 square feet and 15 feet in height" that would appear at the main entrance to the facility.
The order, agreed to by Longplex, gave the go-ahead to a sign, visible from Route 24, that will be "nonconforming by size," and one that "is necessary to achieve its intended visual effect, which is to provide advertisement for the business on the site."
"I was pleased with the result," said David Martland, the attorney for Longplex who was present at the hearing.
The approved sign will be illuminated, but not by the originally requested internal LED lighting. Instead, the lights will be external and be shut off at 11 p.m.
The 167,000 square foot Longplex facility is being constructed on land that lies to the south of Route 24 and east of Fish Road, in an area that is part of the town-owned Tiverton's Industrial Park.
A parcel of the town land had been sold to Jim Long to build the multi-sport athletic center.
Longplex had gone into the zoning hearing with a request for approval of six signs:
1) one that would appear on the side of the building and would be 1,247 square feet in size;
2) and 3), two building logo signs each 64 square feet, "exceeding the illumination set forth governing the sign regulations," said the ZBR decision;
4) a main entrance sign that would be 244 square feet (16 feet by 15.25 feet), that would have "LED internal illumination and a changeable message center;"
5) a rear entrance sign of 57.2 square feet (10 feet by 5.7 feet).
At the outset of the hearing, the ZBR told Jim Long and his lawyer, Mr. Martland, that it was "very concerned with the amount of relief" Mr. Long was asking for in his special use permit request. A break was granted, to give Mr. Long and his lawyer a chance to confer.
The two returned from the break, saying, in the words of the ZBR opinion, "they are dropping all the additional signs previously requested," and instead would be looking for approval of the single monument sign 100 square feet and 15 feet in height.
The vote by the ZBR was 4-1, with Ms. Taylor-Humphrey voting no.