Dear Editor:
Over the course of several years a great many people in Blanco worked very hard to create Blanco’s Comprehensive Master Plan, Historic Preservation Action Plan, and Unified Development Code (UDC). These documents, all of which were ultimately approved by the Blanco City Council, were designed to ensure that Blanco retains its rural, small town charm and Hill Country heritage in the face of inevitable development. There was general agreement that without such controls on future development Blanco could morph into just another “Anytown USA” suburb of Austin and San Antonio and we would lose something very precious indeed, the cherished sense of place we all value so highly and don’t want to change.
On Wednesday, November 12th, at 6:00 pm in the Byars Building, the Blanco City Council will consider whether or not to support Blanco’s Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommendation to deny a request for variance to allow Chicken Express to maintain an already-constructed sign on Hwy 281 South at the Stripes service station. The sign is in violation of at least three provisions of Blanco’s UDC in that it is too tall, too large, and has changeable copy.
This is a slippery slope. If the Council rejects P&Z’s recommendation and the sign is allowed to remain as constructed, what is to prevent other businesses, new and old, from erecting similar signs in order to stay competitive? Go look at the Chicken Express sign and then try to imagine every other non-Historic District restaurant in town erecting one just like it…or other eating establishments coming to town in the future and putting up similar signs. And why stop at restaurants? What if churches want giant changeable copy signs as well? What about automotive repair facilities or real estate agencies? Its all about advertising and the slope is slippery. Is this consistent with our intent to maintain Blanco’s small town charm?
Wayne Gosnell, Blanco
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