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Show K ; ..... . , .. . ... , .,.-.;.... ,v, .. ;. . ;; . !,.- , i .. . ,,n ,.,. ;-i ... ... r .r:A iij y, : :: ".',( i , ; w" . . Golden arches sign OKd for new McDonald's at junction ,h KICK BROKiH Kccnrd staff .rilcr The Summit County Planning Commission voted Tuesday night to urant a variance that will allow an illuminated il-luminated McDonald's restaurant ign at tin- Landmark project at Kimball Junction. Commissioner Van Martin said the panel should take a positive stance for growth. Ami Landmark developer Hy Saunders said the estaurant w.ll help the area's sluggish slug-gish economy. Park City Planning Director Bill Ligety, on the other hand, said the county should lie careful not to set a precedent for many other large igns. The construction would consist of the traditional McDonald's sign, topped top-ped by the familiar twin golden arches. ar-ches. The sign was proposed to be 45 feet ugh. from actual highway grade to the top of the arches, and be 200 square feet in area. The sign restriction under the Snyerville Basin Development Code limits that type of sign to 180 square :eel and its height to 2" feet above the nearest adjacent freeway grade. Since the site was already 20 feet higher than the nearest freeway grade, the code apparently held the sign down to 5 feet, so another 20 feet l linear height was allowed. The arches would have internal illumination il-lumination at night. The commission approved the sign unanimously, with an abstention by commissioner Tom Flinders. Peggy Kissler, an rngineer for McDonald-s. cited data from traffic studies to show why the sign is needed. need-ed. The restaurant, she said, needs to attract an "impulse" customer who will be able to notice the estaurant from the highway and pull off. "If we can't draw the 'impulse' 'im-pulse' person, we stand to lose 50 percent of our customers," she said. Another factor, she said, is that the exit ramp to Park City off Interstate .0 is unusually long, and that that the surrounding topography hides part of the sign. Studies show that as speed increases, in-creases, peripheral vision decreases, she said, and so familiar isual clues become important. That is why McDonaWs is usually adamant ada-mant about putting arches on their signs, she explained. The sign will be posted on the restaurant site on Landmark Drive. Ligety said that signs existing now at Kimball Junction, such at the gasoline stations, are visible all over the Snyderville Basin. In Park City, he added, chain businesses such as Burger King and 7-Eleven have done a ell even though they had different signage than usual. Randy Johnson, speaking for the applicant, said a freeway restaurant was a different situation than the slower traffic in Park City. Flinders also said that, according to the county planner, the gasoline station signs are 60 or 70 feet higher than the McDonald's sign. Saunders said the restaurant's business and employment of young people will help the are.i's economy. "I think this country is in real trouble." Martin added that since Landmark Land-mark is a project predating the Snyderville code, McDonald's could apply for a sign under the old, more liberal code. "I know some people are offended by the golden arches," he said, but added he would rather have the present design than a ' "bastardized version" passed under the old ordinance. |