SEBASTIAN — After much discussion, with seven parties present to request signage approval and grant support, the Façade, Sign and Landscape Grant Review Committee in Sebastian this week adjourned with two grants awarded, one tentatively awarded, one request unresolved and three business tenants who had not yet presented their requests.
Buried Treasures and River Park Plaza were both awarded their requested grants, while Rella’s Bistor was asked to make changes to the plan before final approval could be granted.
Rene Powell, owner of Buried Treasures at 1554 US 1, presented a sign design that had previously been approved. She received a $4,000 grant to help pay for the sign, which will feature interior lighting and, including the lighting, will cost around $12,000.
Joe Cataldo, owner of River Park Plaza, 480-484 US 1, received approval for his main plaza sign, which features a blue background and white lettering. The $7,500 grant will supplement the almost $10,000 cost of the sign.
The Sebastian committee asked Robert Giambanco to modify the large oval, black and gold sign designed for his soon-to-open Rella’s Bistro at 1550 Indian River Drive, telling him it did not comply with the grant requirement that signage for businesses along Indian River Drive have an old fishing village look.
Chair Donna Keys took issue with the oval shape and asked whether Giambanco would consider a rectangular design. He explained that the oval reflected his business logo, which was already chosen and used on business cards and other promotional materials.
Community Development Manager Jan King brought up some other issues as well, but noted that a sign relating to the building style, which Giambanco’s does, is also encouraged.
$7,500 grant was conditionally approved, based on Giambanco returning with a compromise design – a wider base, round top and less gold – “in a timely fashion,” as instructed by the committee.
The remaining four requests on the agenda had been submitted by tenants of Cataldo’s River Park Plaza, which raised some concerns regarding conformity.
Keys also expressed concern that tenants, rather than business owners, were making the requests, stating her worry that if a tenant went out of business the city would be stuck with a sign that could not be reused and its grant investment would have been wasted.
“We’ve run into that, granting thousands and thousands of dollars to businesses that are no longer in business,” she said.
Tenant Michelle Rivera, who with husband Gus, runs Italian Cousins (which had opened earlier that evening) told the committee she and the other tenants had been in that location for years and had kept things running under challenging circumstances when the previous owner went under.
She and Cataldo both agreed that the old signs were ugly and the new channel designs would not fit in them anyway.
King said regulations require that tenants in such a complex must have signs in conformance with a master plan, provided by the owner. Cataldo promised he would do whatever was needed to meet the tenants’ sign wishes and comply with the City regulations.
Everyone wants the plaza to look classy, he assured the committee, saying he and the tenants would discuss sign modifications, and return with complying designs.
The committee and the applicants agreed to meet at Noon on Jan. 21 in Council Chambers to resolve all unfinished issues.
