The board made their decision Wednesday mainly because no representative from the NCC attended the petition hearing. Vince DeJoy, city development director, who is not an official representative for the center, was asked to attend the meeting when Journey Gunderson, NCC executive director, notified DeJoy that she wouldn’t be able to be present at the hearing.

DeJoy did ask for the zoning board not to table the request because of the time it will take to get the proper permits to install the screens with the limited time before the grand opening of the NCC, which is scheduled for Aug. 1. He also said he didn’t know why there was no representative from the NCC at the hearing.

Jim Olson, zoning board member and retired city official, said during his 30 years in city government, he cannot remember any time when the zoning board passed a variance request without a representative for the petitioner present. He also questioned the NCC’s petition at this late date, with the grand opening of the future national attraction planned for Aug. 1.

“Given the magnitude of the project, someone should be able to attend,” he said.

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Ellen Ditonto, zoning board chairwoman, said it is not just a custom for a representative to attend the hearing, but it is required.

All six members, which also includes Peter Larson, Patricia Calanni, Richard Hanson and Sally Martinez, voted to table the variance and special permit request. The next scheduled meeting for the zoning board is Wednesday, July 11.

The area variance request was needed because the maximum allowed electronic messaging display sign is 144 square feet and because the maximum number of these types of signs on a building is one. NCC officials plan to install two electronic messaging display signs. The special permit is necessary because all Level 4 electronic messaging signs require one to be issued.

During the discussion, the zoning board and city officials, which also included Bill Rice, city principal planner, and Jeff Hollern, city planning and research specialist, discussed the history of the zoning regulations for electronic messaging display signs. In January 2017, Jamestown City Council approved new zoning regulations for electronic signs. The Jamestown Planning Commission spent more than a year discussing regulations for these types of signs. Prior to the new zoning regulations, the zoning board had to have a hearing each time a business or an organization wanted to install an electronic message display sign. In October 2014, Ditonto attended a planning commission meeting to ask them to study and accept zoning code regulations for electronic signs.

Hollern said the new zoning regulations were created with the idea that it would prevent the zoning board from having to rule on the majority of electronic signs being installed. However, Hollern said in a case like the signs for the NCC, that the zoning board would still need to make a ruling on the area variance and for the special permit.

Ditanto asked city officials if they knew why the electronic signs have to be as large as the ones proposed, which are almost two and half times the size permitted by the zoning code. Rice said that NCC officials are planning to show movies on the screens during special events. He said the size of the screens correlate with the aspect ratio of movies.