The Architectural Review Committee (ARC) of Monterey, California met on March 19, 2025, to consider two items: a sign permit application for a hotel on Munras Avenue and a permit amendment with tree removal for the Monterey Beach Hotel. Committee members present: Hunter, Ostabar (Chair), Palmer, Sanders, and Polly; member Turgeon was absent. Staff included Planning Manager Hill, Principal Planner Roveri, and Recording Secretary Argonbright.
Committee member Hunter. Present by Chair Ostabar. Here. Committee member Palmer. Here. Committee member Sanders. And we have uh Chair Polly and committee members Turgeon committee member Turgeon absent today. Staff present is Planning Manager Hill, Principal Planner Roveri, and recording Secretary Argonbright. Information on participating in this meeting in providing public comment, including it remotely or by Zoom or telephone, is on this meeting's agenda, which is online at Monterey.gov forward slash agendas. Remote commenters will be muted until it is their turn to speak, and a timer will be shown on the screen. If you are connected on Zoom, the timer is accurate with accurate with no delay. Let me share my screen. 1150 Munras Avenue is a sign permit application for two vehicle oriented signs. Staff's recommendation is that the ARC adopt a resolution to approve the sign permit application as submitted. The site is again 1150 Munras Avenue. The general plan and zoning designations for the site is visitor accommodation facility. The hotel is America's best value in. Currently, there are four signs on the property at various locations. They're numbered one through four on the image. And the proposal is to replace two of them. So two vehicle oriented signs, and to remove the other two that are not being replaced. So signs one and three on the image would be replaced, and signs two and four would be removed. Sign one would be replaced. The current sign is a vehicle oriented sign. And it is currently at nine feet one inch above grade. And the proposal is to lower it to eight feet, but make it bigger, make it 25 square feet, and that's five feet by five feet. It would have the new branding reflected on the sign face. And it would be replaced with a bigger sign, again, 25 square feet, five by five, and the it would be at eight feet from grade, which is the maximum allowed by the sign guidelines. So again, sign one is along Munras Avenue. Sign three is at the corner of Munras and CAS. Other than that, the proposal is achieves the purposes and objectives of the sign ordinance in that the signs are not a proliferation of signs. There would be only two. The sign guidelines allow one vehicle-oriented sign per street frontage. And this lot has two frontages, one on CAS and one on Monrest. The sign's purpose is to identify the business from the street. And the proposal is also consistent with the general plan in that the signs serve to promote a hotel use, which is a permitted use. Again, not a full width solid base, but the applicant's desire is to have the wood post because they reflect the wooded nature of that portion of the site, which is the corner of Cass and Munras, which has more than more than one tree at the corner. And with that, staff recommends that the ARC adopt the resolution. I'm available for questions, and the applicant also said that they would be here. Thank you. Thank you. Any any questions from any? I was just curious what the sign is signed are made of. Sorry about that. Let me hold that up. They would be wood signs. Are they routed kind of with raised lettering as well? I saw there were wood, but I didn't couldn't tell. No, they it does not the application does not say that they're routed. So it just says wood sign.