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Prudential Appeal & Pictures |
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Written by Heather Rayburn (Text) & Joe Minicozzi (Photos)
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Sunday, 19 February 2006 |
 Asheville has laws limiting the size and height of signs downtown as a way to preserve the unique, distinctive character of our city. Besides being illegal, this sign on the Prudential building sets a bad precedent for downtown Asheville if the city allows it to stay by granting Prudential a variance.
Select  Prudential BOA appeal.pdf (15.38 KB) for actual appeal (entertaining).
Select "Read More" for a pictorial tour with explanatory text (click on pictures to enlarge).
 The Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) allows a sign in Prudential's zoning district to have a maximum area of 50-square-feet per facade. The planning department approved the Prudential signs administratively and without a variance despite the fact that Prudential's signs each measure 64-square-feet in area.
Prudential's roof signs exceed the allowable sign height of the 20'-0" maximum that is written in our UDO. However, Scott Shuford, city planning director, said that staff does not apply the rules of sign height for wall-mounted signs as a matter of "tradition." There exists no documentation of said "tradition," and this was the first notification of such regulatory procedure. How is anyone supposed to know how to build if the planning department has "traditional" procedures that are not a part of the written law?
 Large, plastic, back-lit signs scream "strip-mall" rather than "gateway to downtown." It's not fair for the city to allow Prudential to break our sign ordinance when so many other businesses have taken such conscientious care to follow the written rules and grace our downtown with beautiful, distinctive signage.
 The approved single panel plastic, box-styled cabinet signs on Prudential do not do not meet the recommendations from the Downtown Design Guidelines.
 This permit drawing clearly shows that the Prudential sign's calculated 64-square-feet of area exceeds the 50-square-feet allowable.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 20 February 2006 )
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