Oakland Planning Commission approves access road
By: Carolyn G. Rhea,
Staff Writer
The Oakland Design Review Commission and Planning Commission met on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Present were Chairman Stephen Laskoski, and members Mike LaBudde, Gary Schmidt, and Christina Hall, along with city planner Ed Courton.
The Design Review Commission met first, and their first item was a sign approval for St. Francis Medical Partners Primary Care to install an 80 square foot illuminated sign. The building is located at 7243 Hwy 64 in the Kroger Center. This will replace the current sign with a new logo. Ed Courton stated this is a multi-color sign considered to be a corporate logo and is used all through Tennessee. This was approved.
Next was another sign request by VSL Nail Spa to install a 40 square foot illuminated sign at 20 and 22 West Land Way at the southwest corner of Highway 64 and West Land Way. This is the newly built building next to the new Starbucks. The owner wants the sign to be placed on the left side of the building, rather than being centered. The representative from the sign company stated this will be a very high upscale and elegant nail spa and they have handled 20 other locations for the owner in Alabama. This application does not include the tenant sign on the highway so that will come later. The commission voted to approve.
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission then opened their meeting. The only request was West Land Partners LLC requesting to re-plat Lot 1 in the Crye-Leike Plaza subdivision containing 3.89 acres. This is the big piece of land in the back. Ed Courton stated this is to put in the second access road to connect to Chickasaw Ridge Drive. The area behind Cadence Bank where a road connection was planned is owned by two different people and an arrangement was not negotiated. This plan just diverts the access from the lot behind the AT&T store. The commission voted to approve.
Sign Regulations
Courton stated last month he merged the guidelines from Arlington’s sign codes with Oakland’s. Arlington has already gone through the legal review for political signs which is the reason we’re here tonight with the problems that happened during the last election. He said the things that usually get challenged with signs are the color, illumination, etc. so that approval will stay with the Design Review Commission. Then any appeals would go to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Courton gave them a copy of the ordinance with highlighted portions for them to discuss and review. They went over the suggested changes. Courton will made the changes and give the board a summary sheet next month. Their next meeting is Nov. 4.