By Leah Justice

leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

 

After some debate last year whether Tryon zoning requirements for square footage of signs in the town’s IP district should include the sign’s base, town council allowed the Tryon Seventh-day Adventist Church to erect its new sign.

Tryon Town Council met Dec. 15 and approved amendments to the zoning ordinance.

The church’s sign was completed with a rock base this week.

Tryon held a public hearing in October 2015 and heard from a few Seventh-day Adventist representatives who argued that the base of the sign should not count in the measurements.

Church representatives had already ordered a new sign to replace the old sign, which sits off Hwy. 108 approaching Lynn from Tryon.

The discussion began during council’s August meeting when church representatives asked the town for a special consideration since the new sign did not meet new regulations.

The town planning board approved new regulations in the IP district that limited freestanding signs to 32 square feet provided, however, that parcels in the IP district with more than 250 linear feet of primary road frontage be allowed an additional 25 percent in area.

The church’s new sign, according to representatives at the August meeting is 42 square feet, including a scroll at the top. The measurements did not include the base the sign is attached.

During council’s December meeting, Town Manager Joey Davis said the planning board was asked to meet with church representatives one more time regarding the language in the IP district revisions. He said the public hearing has been conducted and there were no changes in the language.

Planning Board Chair John Walters said the board was asked to work with the church and they did resolve a solution that meets the requirements.

Commissioner Roy Miller said the church was not counting the base of the sign so moving forward that is not being counted in the totality of the sign.

Walters said the planning board has discussed 12-18 inches of a base would not be counted but anything above that would be counted.

Town attorney Bailey Nager said the church’s sign base does not exceed the 12-18 inches. Nager said the 12-18 inches of a sign base will come back to council at a later time.