for a freestanding sign that's really replacing a sign that's been at the corner of the intersection
of the Hellerman and Lawndale. And I'll show you this with aerial views. We're asking for an
electronic sign to keep up with the ages and to make the appearance more modern and to reach more
people. Basically, Long Crest Community Association was concerned about what type of sign this would
While it is illuminated, and it is called an animated sign, it's not going to have any cartoons, no scrolling, no ticker tape, no videos. It's basically letter imaging, letter messaging for people who may be interested in the school and or for community notifications.
So the community group asked us to limit the use of the sign from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
We had no problem with that and that the sign would be used by the community as an ad-needed basis.
Here are some of the points that were made during the meeting.
We did the presentation.
Jeffrey Howard, the principal, also spoke.
The sign is five feet by four feet on a six-foot pole, almost 10 feet in height.
But the top half of the sign is a permanent display.
Only the bottom half of the sign will have a variable display.
And there will be no moving displays are anticipated and no moving displays will be in use.
We also have a letter of support from the Lawndale Baptist Church, which is directly across the street and also has a similar sign as we do and got approval for that sign many years ago.
And I'll show you a photograph of that.
So I think the photographs really tell the whole story here. And I'm anticipating some comments by the Planning Commission, which I'm going to try to address now. So we have a number of streets here. We have Hellerman Street and we have Lawndale Avenue. And one of the refusals concerns the fact that, you know, it could be visible and potentially distracting to automobiles.
With that in mind, and knowing we are in a residential district, in fact, the school is an RSA 5 zoning district, across the street is RSA 5, and where the Baptist Church here, where my cursor is, is also RSA 5.
So knowing that traffic goes this way and this way on the intersecting streets, we didn't put our sign facing each street.
And as you'll see from other photographs that I'll show you, the sign is actually kind of a point of an arrow here so that we're really not in the line of distance or line of sight of passing motorists so as not to distract them.
The other issue is the planning code doesn't want illuminated signs to bother anybody in the residential area.
You'll see from other photographs that if the sign is on an angle, kind of the point of an arrow,
to the left, there's a rear of a building, and to the right would be the Baptist Church.
So we're really not affecting any residential areas.
This is the corner.
Right now, we have a freestanding sign.
the R sign, because we don't want it close to the corner. If we did, the sign would
expand over the fencing that's there. The fencing is roughly six feet high, so we have to have a
six-foot pole with the sign above the pole so that it's visible. One of the refusals is that we have
the sign within eight feet of the edge of the property. We really have to have it within eight
feet, because if we push it back any further, we would then be impacting the parking, and also this
is used by recreation for the students. This is the church, the Baptist church, that we received
a letter of support from. Again, this is directly across the street from the school, and it has a
freestanding sign, very similar to what we're requesting, where we're going to have a stationary
sign at the top, indicating the name of the school,
Cedar Grove Christian Academy, and at the bottom, we would have
the message lettering. Again, this is the school to the
right where my cursor is, and directly across the street in the line
of sight of the school would be the church. This is a closer view
of their sign. Right now, this is
our freestanding sign, which is already within the eight-foot setback. We're going to
basically remove this sign and hopefully install the new sign, which I will show you.
So the sign, again, is going to be at the top of this fence up to about the height of where
this sign is, and it will be looking toward the rear of this building across the street.
This building, the white building, doesn't face our school. It will not be impacted by this sign.
This building, the white building, doesn't face our school.
It will not be impacted by this sign.
These are just some photographs of the school itself and some of the notices that we have placed around the school.
So this is a site plan of where the sign will be located.
As I said at the outset, Mr. Chairman, the sign will be as a point of an arrow facing kind of the middle of the intersection.
the cursor is going in the direction of where the display will be
there's not even a building within eyesight of the site plan
and the other side of the sign will be towards where the
Baptist church is located. This is the actual
sign itself again the top half will be a static sign
to grow Christian Academy for more visibility within the community
and the bottom half will be where we will have our letter of messaging
The six foot height is to get us over the fence so that it's actually seen by people who are walking by.
Some more floor site plans.
It is an LED sign.
I wanted to go back now if I could, Mr. Chairman.
I know the hour is late, but at least I wanted to touch on the refusal.
I'll blow this up a little bit.
So basically, the first three refusals have to do with the illumination and the concern of the code that we're near an intersection of three streets, which we are, but we're not within the line of sight of passing vehicles, and the principal will be able to address that.
We're also not close by to any residential structures, and the one residential structure we are near is the rear of the structure and the first floor of that structure no one lives in.
The other refusals have to do with what I mentioned earlier, that the sign is going to be within the eight-foot setback.
And as I said, the reason for that is we want to make sure that we're not going to interfere with any parking within the school grounds or any of the recreational areas that the students use in that area.
The other refusal is with regard to the signage itself.
The code requires 15 square feet and this sign is 22 square feet.
But again, the animated portion of the sign is only half of that.
It's only 10 square feet, not 22 square feet, because the top portion of the sign is a static sign.
The last refusal has to do with the maximum height.
The sign is slightly over 10 feet, I think, by an inch or two.
And again, we need that because this fence is there at six feet, and to get the sign that's going to be visible and noteworthy to any passersby, we have to come up to about the 10 feet height, which is where the existing sign is.
so i do have one witness mr chairman if if he could adopt my testimony and also i would
ask the principal some questions and and perhaps he can explain uh more so than i the reasons why
the school needs this sign okay uh jeffrey howard can you unmute yourself
jeffrey howard please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court stenographer?
Hi, this is Jeff Howard, J-E-F-F-H-O-W-A-R-D, Principal Cedar.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Good afternoon, Mr. Howard.
Yes. You were on the call and you heard my testimony, correct? Yes. And if you had the
opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Yes. I would add to that. We've been in that property since 1984 and in the area since 1968.
Okay. And you drew your students are drawn from this neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods,
correct? Yes. And the sign that we're proposing, I know the reasons why you want the sign. Can
you explain to the board why it's necessary to have this sign for the school? We have been in
the area for a long time, have a great relationship with people. Many have driven past our school
and did not even realize that we were a private organization, did not know what we were.
we feel like we owe it to our community and really want to reach out to our community to
let them know that we offer this service and we offer it quite well. And Mr. Howard, over the
course of years, the school has basically invited the community in for intramural sports. You've
basically invited the community in for intramural sports. You've used the school as a voting
use a school
location. You acted as a vaccination site for over 1,000 individuals in the neighborhood.
Would the sign be used for community engagements like that? Absolutely. We like to work with our
community and have them use our facility in a lot of different ways. We share with a number of the
local athletic groups as well as community groups and politicians, voting organization,
like you said, different things like that. And you were at the community meeting with me in front
of Lawn Crest Civics Association, correct? Yes, they were great. And you explained to them that
you would limit the hours of operation of the sign from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.? The sign is fully
programmable and dimmable, and we would have no problem with changing either the brightness of
the sign or off altogether. Right, and you agree that there's not going to be any cartoons or
scrolling or ticker tape or videos? Correct. And do you believe that this sign will assist in your
mission to help bring additional students to the school and help educate them in a Christian manner?
Very much so. We realize that signage is a great source of getting information out, and we hope to get something erected as soon as possible.
Now, just one question. You drive by this intersection, how many times over the course of your engagement with the school?
Oh, my goodness. I've been here since 1990, and I've driven by thousands of times, probably.
Okay. And as you approach this intersection, will the sign, as it's going to be located, interfere with the line of sight of any motorists?
No. And we agreed with the Longcrest community the same thing. They fully endorse it and don't feel like it'll be a problem.
Right. And you agree that we purposely designed the sign to be at an angle so that it's not funding on either Hellermann or Lawndale Avenue, correct?
That is correct. Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Howard.
I appreciate your testimony.
Mr. Chairman, with that, I'd just like to make a couple comments in closing.
We believe that this sign is going to be an added benefit to the school as well as to
the neighborhood.
We have a freestanding sign there right now.
It's not that visible because it's not illuminated.
We believe that the sign will draw additional students to the school.
We're not altering the essential character of the neighborhood because there's a digital
sign LED directly across the street from a supporter of this project, Lawndale Baptist Church.
And we believe that this sign is worthy of the board's approval. With that, I rest and ask that
my exhibits be admitted. Thank you. Your exhibits are admitted. Questions from the board? No,
Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hand. Excuse me, Cher. We have one hand up.
Joy, last name ending with N as in Nancy?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
My name is Joy, J-O-Y-E. Nottage is my last name, N-O-T-T-A-G-E.
You're right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Absolutely.
Are you a neighbor?
I am a neighbor.
I live at 621 Robin Street.
You don't have to tell me where you live.
That's fine.
Proceed now.
Yes, I am.
My daughter also attended Cedar Grove and so on.
But I wanted to just say something in support of Cedar Grove.
When COVID came around, I worked with the Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Association.
And we worked collaboratively.
they allowed us to use their bus. They actually helped us with bringing tons of food, hundreds
and thousands of loads of food here every single day for an entire summer for the community here
in the Lawndale area. And I wish they had had a sign then because we ended up having to go onto
the sidewalk and telling people that, you know, we have food for them for free, come and get food.
So I just wanted to add that there is so much that the school does for the community, and I can go on and on and on about what they've done for the community.
So I really endorse the sign.
Okay, so thank you very much.
We appreciate your input, and thanks for calling in.
We appreciate that.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
David Fechtow with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
The appellant has shown that an identification sign within the required setback
The appellant has shown that an identification sign within the required setback is needed to ensure customers are able to identify the school.
However, the appellant has not shown that animation is necessary, nor has the appellant shown that an economic detriment will accrue if they are required to comply with the height and size requirements in the zoning code.
So the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposal for a freestanding identification sign, but deny the proposed animation and height and use variances.
Thank you.
Mr. Clinton, if the board votes in favor of this, are you willing to accept the proviso of 7A to 9P?
Yes, absolutely.
Okay, thank you.
so m i m i 2023 002 695 600 hellerman i vote yes with proviso hours of illumination 7a to 9p
thomas holliman my vote is yes with proviso
So, Ishmael Shaheen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Counselor, you have your votes.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
We appreciate it.
Right.
Is there anyone in the audience whose 2 p.m. case has not been called?
I see no handshare.
Okay, so we're going to take a five-minute break, let our court reporter get straight,
and then what we're going to do is we're going to come back, and we only have, I think, three cases.
So let's see what we can get done.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.