Enclave commenter Susan Floyd with the announcement:
The Donelson-Hermitage Neighborhood Association is sponsoring a community meeting regarding the proposed LED sign bill on Monday, February 16 at the Hermitage Police Precinct located at 3701 James Kay Lane.
The meeting will begin at 7pm and all of the council members from the Donelson-Hermitage area will be in attendance to field questions from audience members.
The meeting is open to the public. For more information visit our website at www.dhna.info.
Susan Floyd
DHNA Board of Directors
Someone from Hermitage needs to ask their Councilman Jim Gotto what in the world he thinking Thursday night at the Metro Planning Commission meeting.
ReplyDeleteGoodpasture Christian School came before the MPC asking to rezone a small sliver of their property CS in order to get an electronic LED sign on their property. Councilman Michael Craddock came and spoke in favor.
Councilman Gotto, who serves on the MPC, made a motion to deny the CS zoning but instead give them SP zoning on this tiny part of their property for an LED sign.
Commissioner Andree LeQuire had strong concerns stating that the MPC needed to let the LED sign task force make their recommendation before ruling on such a sign. Commissioner Stewart Clifton, who also serves on the task force, stated that the task force had one more meeting and a recommendation would be made. He reminded the commmissioners that there were signs all over town that were illegal now that no one was policing.
Gotto tried to tell the group that the task force might take a year to 18 months. Gotto's motion was amended by Commissioner Phil Ponder to allow the sign to be 110% of what it is now and be LED. Goodpasture is one step closer to getting an LED sign that is 15 foot tall with no restrictions. Even if there is a change in LED law, will they be grandfathered in?
The vote was 6-2 in favor. I am sorry commissioners, isn't this spot zoning? Where was Mr. Bernhardt? He always speaks up reminding the commissioners that SP is not for spot zoning.Has he been gagged by his budget cuts? Has he chosen to be quiet in order to try and get the council to put more money back in his budget? He did mention that at the end of the meeting.
If the whole LED sign bill was to get the Bellevue Church a sign, why didn't they just use spot zoning? That too was a scam to get Bobby Joslin the law changed to pad his pockets with cash.
The whole thing tonight looked like a setup. Why do citizens waste their time on a task force when people like Gotto, Craddock and their buddy Charlie Tygard do whatever they damn well please?
The good ole boys have worked their magic on this one. Now everybody and their brother will be at the Planning Commission asking for spot zoning to get them an LED sign, even if they are illegal.
The best part, Gotto suggested that Craddock sponsor the SP so that Goodpasture doesn't have to pay the $6000 SP fee. I thought the city was broke? Why are we giving away $6000 that would go to the city while we break the law Mr. Gotto?
The Metro Planning Staff wrote the following in the 2/12/09 staff report about Goodpasture's request to rezone property for an LED sign.
ReplyDelete"The applicant has stated that the purpose of of the zoning request is to allow an electronic sign, which is not allowed in the OR20 district. It is inappropriate to rezone property to a zoning district that is not consistent with policy, or the surrounding zoning to allow a use that is prohibited in the existing zoning district. It sets a bad precedent, and is not consistent with the community planning process, which has identified this area as non-commercial. It would be more appropriate to look at the sign ordinance and make any necessary changes."
Looks like the previous post was right on. Gotto has opened up a can of worms. Let's hope the Metro Council will close it before this happens all over Nashville.
Why do we pay for a Planning Department Staff when the commissioners simply ignore their expertise?
Craddock is in on this with Gotto. He has already filed a council bill BL2009-396 that has passed on first reading. Amazingly, the bill doesn't say one word about a sign. The bill will be up for public hearing at the Metro Council very soon. BEWARE!!
ReplyDeleteI think the previous comments hit the nail on the head. The Planning Commision Employees are educated individuals who have the knowledge to provide the information needed to make an informed decision. The Council on the other hand base their decisions on their emotions and those they are suppose to represent. The two don't always determine the outcome based on fact....
ReplyDelete