2019-03-05 Kailua Village Design Commission Minutes

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businesses in the Kailua Village, and that from his 40-year residency on O‘ahu he was very familiar with the Fun Factory logo and how popular their business was. He expressed his support of the application, and said that the sign as proposed, with the 16-inch high letters in the area of 14 square feet, would not be out of character for the KCSC. Commissioner Van Pernis disagreed and said that because this was Kona and not O‘ahu, abiding by the guidelines was more important. Further, he agreed with Commissioner Hetherington’s opinion that additional four inches would not make any difference. Commissioner Crusat also agreed saying that the letter height should remain within the twelve-inch allowance. She also said that she was fine with the colors because people related Fun Factory with those colors. Upon inquiry by Commissioner Ching, Ms. Brown said that the sign would cost about 5,000 dollars to make, and that it had yet to be made since they were still going through this approval process. She also confirmed that the photograph in the application was just to show an example. Commissioner Van Pernis commented that even if they had already put the money in the sign, the Commission’s review should not be influenced by the cost that they had voluntarily incurred. Commissioner Smith said that although the font sizes on some of the other signs in the KCSC were smaller, the total illuminated areas were bigger because of the back-lit backgrounds; therefore, in his opinion the appearance of the illuminated 16-inch letters with no such background would be smaller than those other signs. Commissioner Ikeuchi commented that the illumination for the proposed sign should not exceed the other signs. Chairman Roth questioned the applicant’s reason for the variance, which was their need to be visible. He said that the other tenants had not expressed the need beyond the existing variance. Mr. Matabishop, introducing himself as district manager for the outer islands, responded that it was because he did often hear from the customers that they had a hard time finding the store, and that while they were trying to stay within the look of the community, they wanted the sign to be big enough for the travelers on Palani Road to be able to find the store. In response to Commissioner Van Pernis’ question, he said that a bigger sign would be safer for motorists who might look for the store while driving. Commissioner Van Pernis also asked whether Mr. Matabishop was a resident of Kona; he answered that he resided in Hilo. Commissioner Sullenberger commented that the red color was acceptable to him, but that the size should not exceed the current allowance. He opined that the illuminated red color would be visible enough, and that people had to look for the store only once and it would not be long before everybody learned the location. Chairman Roth pointed out that the twelve-inch letter height seemed to be workable to the applicant since their drawings had initially been prepared as such. It was moved by Commissioner Hetherington and seconded by Commissioner Kern that the Commission recommend denial of the variance for the letter height but recommend approval of the sign as proposed with a reduction of the letter height to twelve inches. Commissioner Smith said that he was fine with any decision reached by the Commission, but that he wanted to make sure that the applicant was treated equitably with the others. In response to Commissioner Van Pernis’ comment that the Commission should go by rules rather than by 3