A variance request from the owners of The Pines mall to construct signage closer to the property lines than allowed by ordinance was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Pine Bluff Board of Zoning Adjustment.
Weiner Development, which purchased The Pines in December, plans to add about 15 new signs at the mall, which is at 2901 Pines Mall Drive. Five of those sings will be closer to the street than is allowed by city zoning code without a variance.
Weiner Development President Andy Weiner told commissioners that the new signage is part of a multistep plan on the part of the company to achieve a complete economic and aesthetic turnaround at the mall within three years.
“We want to put together what we believe is the best signage package I’ve seen anywhere,” Weiner said, adding that he plans to move quickly with the project and have the signs up by the end of May.
The signs include more prominent signs to advertise movies showing at the cinema inside the mall, the names of stores inside the mall displayed on signs on the outside walls, food court restaurant names on the glass outside the food court, some 17- to 20-foot electronic color signs and more.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The five signs requiring the variance are along East Harding Avenue and Martha Mitchell Expressway.
Weiner said the revolutionary nature of the sign package and the deals that will be offered to tenants within the mall to use the signs for free will create quite a buzz within the industry.
“This is a game changer,” he said.
Weiner said the goal is twofold: defensive and offensive.
First, the mall would like to keep the tenants it has by offering them the best outdoor advertising possible.
“We don’t want to lose any more tenants,” Weiner said. “This community and this mall has lost too many tenants already.”
Second, Weiner would like to show the several regional chains that he said are interesting in locating in the mall that the mall owners mean business about improving the property. Weiner said that more regional businesses coming to the mall is imminent.
Once more regional tenants are secured, Weiner said he hopes the national chains will follow. However, Weiner said he believes the signage package must be in place before a national chain would consider locating at The Pines.
Weiner said that his company did a similar signage package when they purchased the mall in Vicksburg, Miss., which is a smaller mall in a smaller community than Pine Bluff. After that, they were about to land a nationwide clothing and home decor retailer.
“Is it guaranteed that we will get a business like [that]? No,” Weiner said. “But in business, it’s all about odds, and we’re trying to improve the odds.”
Weiner, however, reiterated that landing a national chain is not a done deal.
“It’s very, very hard in today’s world to get anybody to do anything,” Weiner said. “But again, it improves the odds.”
Planning staff recommended in favor of the proposal. Jerre George, planner for Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning and staff adviser to the commission, said that the mall represented a unique circumstance where it did not make sense to apply the same zoning laws as to other commercial structures.
George said that she and city Inspection and Zoning Department staff have checked each of the proposed sign sites from every angle and they do not believe the signs will inhibit driver visibility.
In other business, the Planning Commission, which meets jointly with the Board of Zoning Adjustment:
• Unanimously approved an amendment to a use permitted on review request for a post-foster-care transitional home at 1104 W. 5th Ave. at the intersection with Cherry Street. Applicant Richelene Harris, representing Bessie Beavers Campus Housing, has already had one use permitted on review request approved by the commission. The original permit allowed for clients aged 18-21 who have aged out of the foster-care system, referred to the program by the Department of Human Services and who are currently or will be attending college. The clients could not be sexual offenders, exiting a detention facility, substance abuse facility or mental health facility. The amendment also allows clients to be employed (rather than attending college) and not participating in a DHS program. Harris said that she was requesting the change because since opening the facility, DHS had not been able to locate any former foster children in the local area who met the criteria for the college program.
• Unanimously approved a use permitted on review request from Valeria Franklin representing Yes I Can Ministries to establish a church at 2902 S. Catalpa St. Suite 4, which is a business building in Light Industrial zone. The permit was issued subject to a couple of stipulations that parking must be improved at the site and the permit may not be transferred to another church at the site. If one desires to locate there in the future, they must come back before the commission.
• And discussed the valuable knowledge four of the commissioners felt they gained when they attended a training session conducted in Hot Springs by the Arkansas Public Administration Consortium, Arkansas Municipal League, Arkansas Chapter of the American Planning Association and University of Arkansas at Little Rock Institute of Government.