Politics & Government

Lansdale Council Tables Vote on First Baptist Church LED Sign

First Baptist Church has applied for a variance to the zoning hearing board to permit an LED sign at Seventh and Broad streets. Council has delayed a vote to support the application, citing precedence in a Lansdale Catholic LED sign.

First Baptist Church of Lansdale is discernible in Lansdale Borough at Seventh and North Broad streets, but its ministry board wants it to be even more evident at the edge of town.
Church representatives are headed to the zoning hearing board to seek a variance to allow an LED sign with messaging that changes every 90 seconds.
The request was recommended for approval by the Lansdale planning commission.
The zoning hearing board had recommended for approval in October 2012 a similar sign at Lansdale Catholic—albeit with different stipulations.
And that is why Lansdale Borough Council voted 8-0 Wednesday to table a motion that would have supported the church's variance application to the zoning hearing board to permit the sign.
The motion would have also opposed the church's application seeking interpretation of the ordinance to allow the sign by-right.
Council will vote on the matter at its Oct. 2 special meeting, prior to the next zoning hearing board meeting. Councilman Jason Van Dame initially suggested tabling the vote until then, so councilmembers can gather more information.
First Baptist Church is located across from Elm Terrace Gardens. The most visible aspect of the church property is the Dr. Boston plaque at the intersection.
First Baptist Church as a sign along North Broad Street, closer to West Eighth Street: It is a dark maroon with gold lettering, but nothing flashy or modern.
Earlier this year, the zoning hearing board permitted an LED sign for Lansdale Catholic at Seventh Street and Lansdale Avenue to replace the existing sign. In its recommendation, the zoning hearing board made four stipulations:

  1. No scrolling, blinking or animation.
  1. The sign must be placed at the same location as the existing sign, and be of the same size.
  1. The message should be changed no more than once a day, on average
  1. The message board should be available for emergency messaging.
Prior to the vote, Councilman Denton Burnell said Wednesday that the more rapid change proposed in the sign violates, to great extent, the spirit of the Lansdale Catholic sign.
"I think I would have a difficult time supporting this motion," Burnell said.
Councilman Steve Malagari supported the purpose of the sign, but had reservations on the rapid messaging.  
"I'm more comfortable with something similar, if not exact, to the Lansdale Catholic stipulation," he said. 
Councilwoman Mary Fuller wanted to know: Why the rush? Borough Manager Timi Kirchner initially told Fuller the next time council would meet for voting is after the next zoning hearing board, thus a vote was needed Wednesday. Prior to the table vote, Kirchner did not recommend delaying the vote for the special meeting.
"I wasn’t aware of this motion. This is a surprise motion. I didn’t know about it until late in the day. I had no time to review anything or talk to anybody," Fuller said. "At this point, I lean toward not supporting it."
Fuller also went on record that she is unhappy with Lansdale Catholic's adherence to the stipulations.
"I voted in favor of the Lansdale Catholic sign. Now that I voted on it, and now that it's there, I understand the reason originally three years ago why we did not want (LED signs) there," she said. "I am not pleased with how it looks. I'm not in favor of LED signs."
Council President Matt West—who admitted being absent the day council voted on the Lansdale Catholic sign—said he would have voted "no" to the sign at that time. He too said Lansdale Catholic is not conforming to the ordinance.
"I don’t think that LED signs are what we envision for the borough," West said. "I believe that the LED sign constructed at Lansdale Catholic, there has been some issues with conforming to those regulations placed upon it. 
West said the messaging frequency is difficult to enforce daily.
"What do we do? Hire a codes person to stand in front of the sign all day?" West said.  "I don’t think it's the best design for what we are looking for in a rejuvenated Lansdale."
Fuller asked where does Lansdale stop with allowing LED signs. 
"Why did we enforce it three years ago when the ordinance changed to stipulate we would not allow LEDs in Lansdale?" Fuller said.  
Chief Robert McDyre told council there have been no traffic problems with the sign at Lansdale Catholic.
The reason for the 90-second messaging has to do with fields of vision and traffic signal changes, per traffic planner John Wichner of McMahon Associates. Wichner was also hired by Lansdale Catholic for its LED sign variance.
Wichner said the sign is visible 380 feet away, traveling on Broad Street toward Main Street. All other approaches have visibility of 150 to 170 feet. The signal cycle is 100 seconds, he said. 
"Most of the vehicles will be seeing this when sitting at the signal," Wichner said. "Any driver that travels through the intersection will not see the sign change, and they will typically see it change one time as they travel the intersection."
The church only wishes to promote its various events at a frequency more than once per day.
"In that 90-second timeframe," said First Baptist Church ministry board vice chairman Dan LaValla, "we could give our worship times and any special event to highlight for that timeframe. We didn’t want to create a distraction, so the board agreed to ask for a static sign. We then had discussed how often somebody would see the sign."
LaValla, who is also director of library services at Biblical Seminary in Hatfield, asked if there is a consensus from council to approve the motion if the ministry board agrees to once per day. West said there wasn't enough for a consensus yet.
"Given that we already voted to approve a similar situation at Lansdale Catholic, it's very difficult to pass something that would not at least be matching those criteria," West said. "It would be good to get us all on same page, and make sure everyone is suring everything up. Since it's already been done, it would be a stretch to say it won’t be done."


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