The Design Review Commission met to review a proposed amendment to the master sign program for the John Muir Medical Campus. The commission approved prior meeting minutes and discussed the signage changes, which involved updating donor names and requesting exceptions for sign height and area.
Chair Basting. Here. Chair Newsom is on vacation, I believe, and uh we have a quorum. Great. So are there any items on consent? Yes. Uh there should be on on the agenda there should be the um adoption of meeting minutes for September 4th, November 20th, and December 4th of 2024. Um I can make a motion that we adopt the meeting minutes. I second that motion. Okay. Um roll call. Uh Commissioner Case. Yes. Commissioner Riley. Yes. Yes. Okay. Let's see like motion carries. Okay. Moving right along. Nice. Zero action approved. Okay. Are there any public communications for items not on the agenda this evening? Okay, seeing none. Are there any ex parte communications that any of the commissioners need to report on? No, no. Okay. Thank you. So now shall we begin the public hearing? Yes, staff has a presentation. Uh good evening, design review commissioners. My name is Stephen Cook, and I am an assistant planner with the city's community development department. Before you tonight is a proposed amendment to the master sign program for the John Muir Medical Campus located at 177 La Casa Via. The project is designated as application number Y25031. For some site context, the parcel is located along La Casa Villa as highlighted in blue on the vicinity map. The site contains an existing three-story medical office building, which houses the Hoffman Cancer Center. This site is a part of the larger plan development that makes up the John Muir Medical Campus. In 2022, the design review commission approved an amendment to the master sign program to include the new medical building on the project site. That approval included several exceptions to the city's sign ordinance, such as several skyline signs, freestanding signs, and increases in the overall sign area. Since the most recent approval, the applicant is requesting a further amendment to the master sign program with a few updates, and I'll walk you through those changes beginning with the proposal to modify the existing entry wall signage. Under the previous approval, the signs were labeled outpatient center and cancer center. The applicant now proposes to replace those with the donor name, Hoffman Cancer Center. Each sign will measure 13.5 square feet and will feature facelit internally illuminated channel letters in the color black with the two inch deep aluminum return. Uh before and after renderings along with their corresponding locations are included in the slide for your reference. An additional skyline sign is being proposed, which will also feature the donor's name. This sign will measure 28 square feet, and like the others, we'll use facelit internally illuminated channel letters in the color black with four-inch deep aluminum returns. While the city sign ordinance limits the heights to 25 feet, the proposed sign reaches approximately 27 feet at its highest point, and as such, approval will require the design review commission to make several specific findings, including that one the good design criteria is required for a higher sign, two that the business is identified by the sign occupies all floor space adjacent to the wall where the sign is being placed, and three that this higher sign enhances the building's architectural appearance. While staff is confident that the DRC can make the necessary findings, there is some concern about the potential visual impact on nearby residences, especially those directly oriented in the direction of the skyline sign. And to address potential nighttime lighting impacts on nearby residences, staff has included a condition on the draft resolution that restricts the illumination between 10 p.m.