Board OKs exemption for Wendy’s sign

Wendy’s is open for business.

Soon enough, it’ll have a sign to mark its location.

Portland Board of Zoning Appeals approved a special exemption use request Tuesday for Wendy’s to put up a 30-foot sign next to its Portland restaurant.

Wendy’s opened Aug. 3. Since then, customers have been swarming the establishment, with cars wrapping around the drive thru nearly every day.

Located at 524 N. Meridian St., the restaurant doesn’t have a sign yet, but there are banners in front of the building that can be seen driving along Meridian Street (U.S. 27).

Per Portland’s zoning ordinance, pole signs located in the central business district (downtown Portland) require a special exception authorization from the board. Jay/Portland Building and Planning assistant director Pati McLaughlin pointed out this was the first time a new business has made a request to the board on the matter since the code was updated in 2009. (Other businesses in the downtown area existed prior to the ordinance change.)

The ordinance also limits businesses to putting up one sign, which may not exceed 100 square feet of surface area or a height limit of 35 feet.

Wendy’s sign will stand about 30 feet tall and will be located on the north side of the property. (For reference, McDonald’s sign is at the maximum height of 35 feet. It requested to put in a 53-foot sign in May 2022 after the old sign was blown over by high winds, but the request was denied.)

Mike Medler of Main Street Connect voiced opposition to the new sign, suggesting Wendy’s consider a ground level sign as an alternative. (Medler also owns the adjacent Medler’s Furniture.) He recalled making a similar request at the meeting when McDonald’s was denied a taller sign.

“I approached the board to look at some of these new signs that are sort of landscape style, like out at the hospital and so forth, instead of cluttering up the downtown (with) high signage,” he said. “We felt, why continue to put up taller signs?”

John Hemmelgarn, director of Jay/Portland Building and Planning, noted the request meets the ordinance requirements. He suggested Medler and Main Street Connect approach Portland City Council if they would like to see the requirements changed.

Medler also questioned Wendy’s choice in who would be putting up the sign. (Commissioned by Custom Sign Center of Columbus, Ohio, the same company will also be installing the sign.) He suggested Display Craft should do the work, saying in past meetings it had been said the company would work with local businesses for construction.

Jae Schilling, director of operations for Wendy’s, noted the company hired several local contractors, specifically 60 local residents.

“This is a national contract with Wendy’s, they do all of our signage across our entire company, and there’s only about two sign companies that are contracted with Wendy’s to make the signs and put them in,” said Jae Schilling.

Hemmelgarn added the board can’t enforce rules on who the company hires.

Board members Aaron Loy, Kyle Teeter, Connie Roberts and Larry Petro approved the request unanimously.