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FURNITURE & APPLIANCE
511 N. 711, Ave., Bozeman, MT 59715
(406)587-0342 * (406)587-7368
October 23, 2014
City of Bozeman
Department of Community Development
re: Notice of Violation dated 10/20/2014
To Whom It May Concern,
We applied for our permit last fall for our America's Mattress Gallery Sign on the
North side of our building through Signs Now (which is no longer in business) We
had Signs Now do the permit process for us and we were told we had enough
"building face" for the sign so we proceeded to have them put the sign up. We never
heard of any problems with the sign from Signs now or the City and our check was
cashed for the permit so of course we would assume everything was done properly.
However, even though our permit was filed and our check cashed, a former
employee of Signs Now recently informed us that our America's Mattress Gallery Sign
was never `officially" approved by the City because the "woman she gave the permit
to in the City's Sign Division said she wasn't going to approve any sign for Bozeman
Furniture & Appliance until they brought their other sign into compliance." This was
news to us and also a little alarming in the attitude it conveyed from a City
Employee. We thought with the exit of Vicki Hassler, the city was on the road to
being less threatening and more business friendly.
We have been waiting patiently for the N. 7th Improvements to come our way for 6
years now. We have called and talked to members of that committee and they keep
assuring us that they will get to our block "next year". We are only renting this
building, yet we reduced the size of our planter around our sign 2 years ago in
anticipation of moving the sidewalks back and receiving a "green space" along 7th
Avenue. We also (with approval from our landlord) offered up our corner to
construct the rock wall and planter that the N. 7th Improvement Plan is bringing up
our street. We have also agreed, from the day we moved to this location to lower
our sign when all of this happens, even though we are just renting the property and
the landlord will not be paying for the expense to do that. Until that time, we are a
local small business, dependent on people "seeing us" as they drive by and we have
to maintain our existing sign and our building. Our old panel had recently been
broken on the North Side. We had received several negative comments from
customers regarding the sad state it was in. We just replaced our broken sign panel.
We have not made any change to the structure itself since we moved here. It's the
same size and shape that's been standing there for over 25 years.
However, we realize now, after reading your letter that the City has a "lockdown"
type of ordinance in effect regarding any improvements to old signs and that we
would have been in compliance if we left our sign as is and broken. But this
obviously doesn't make any sense at all, nor would this reflect well on our business
or N. 7th. Avenue.
N.7th is still struggling with its "blight" label and unfortunately, it is peppered with
Quonset huts, Pawn Shops, Empty buildings (soon to add Kmart to the list) and
jumbo signs like U-Haul & the Cat's Paw. If the Cat's Paw's sign had a brick thrown
through it like ours, should they leave it alone so as not to open their door to the
City's legal department and criminal charges? How does that benefit N. 7th? or our
town? Our sign is the least of N. 7th's "blight" problems.
If Signs Now was wrong and we did not have enough "building face" for the
America's Mattress Gallery Sign, we will gladly work with the City to bring it into
compliance and make it smaller. And we will also work with the City Department of
Community Development to redesign our pole sign when the N. 7tt' Improvements
come to our block, so that all construction and wiring can be done at the same time
that the sidewalks are torn up.
Thank you for your consideration,
Respectfully,
Rikki M. Bushnell
President/GM
Bozeman Furniture & Appliance
cc: Mark Carpenter
cc: Mayor Jeff Kraus