The 80-foot-tall-sign above the Boulder Town Pump along Interstate 15 will remain as the gas station expands, and it will receive a new sign face, after a zoning ordinance variance for the sign was approved by the Boulder Board of Adjustments on Jan. 5. But the board was unsure how to handle signs proposed for the exterior of the new Town Pump building, or whether to continue to allow the shorter standalone signs near the Main Street entrance to the gas station—all of which violate current city zoning ordinances. The board will consider those proposed variances at a meeting on Jan. 26.
Contractors hired to install signage at the new Town Pump, which is currently under construction, will be allowed to change the existing sign face on the 80-foot sign to read “Conoco.” It currently says “Exxon.” Under city ordinance, standalone signs are limited at 30-feet tall, but the five-member Board of Adjustments approved the change of the sign face as a variance to the ordinance, rather than require alterations to the sign’s height.
City ordinance also limits properties to one standalone sign each, though properties housing multiple businesses can display multiple sign faces on the single allowed sign. But the Boulder Town Pump has two more standalone signs in addition to the 80-foot sign along the interstate. The shorter signs, located near the entrance to the gas station, feature two vertical arrays of sign faces between three vertical supports, and include two electronic displays: one for Lucky Lil’s casino and one for gas prices.
Board of Adjustments Chair Sue Pasini said that the additional signs were mentioned at the Jan. 5 meeting, but she wasn’t sure if the board and the sign contractors, who applied for the variances, came to an agreement about whether the shorter signs could remain. Minutes for the Jan. 5 meeting were not available as of Tuesday.
“I’m not 100% clear on that,” she said in a phone call on Tuesday. “I don’t know about the other signs. We will have to clear that up at the meeting.”
The board will also consider proposed signs for the exterior of the new Town Pump building. City ordinance allows one sign on the exterior of a building, and sign contractors for the Town Pump have proposed 17 signs. The total combined area of the standalone and building-mounted signs is 1,281 square feet, according to a city analysis of the proposals. City ordinance limits total combined sign area to 100 square feet.
The Jan. 26 Board of Adjustments meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at Boulder City Hall.
