Aaron Gudelj September 15, 2016 Community Development Department City of Hermosa Beach 1315 Valley Drive Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 Dear Aaron and all the rest of the Planning Department, St. Cross would like to replace our existing sign with a new sign closer to the sidewalk. We ve been a community institution for the entire time Hermosa Beach has been a city, and for the 65 years we ve been at our current site on Monterey Boulevard we ve always worked to be good neighbors and offer our space for the betterment of the community. We rent space to Temple Shalom of the South Bay, a local Jewish Temple, and we host AA meetings almost every day for the public. Every month or so we host a memorial service for a community member, and we host a wide variety of meetings of public interest, from Beach Cities Health District Blue Zone meetings to South Coast Interfaith Council conversations. (One recent SCIC conversation had us invite two prominent Muslim speakers to talk with about 100 attendees about de-mystifying Islam.) We ve even built a small doggy rest stop on our campus for people to curb their dogs for the good of the neighborhood. Since moving to this site in the early 50's, we've been an integral part of the neighborhood, and of the larger community. In all of our community hosting, we've noticed one problem: people often miss our entrance as they're driving by. Our existing sign is set back almost 15 feet from the sidewalk, and it's hard to see from more than 75 or so feet away because of various street signs and palm trees. (I ve attached two pictures to this letter: Picture A shows the southbound approach from the stop sign at 19 th, and Picture B shows the northbound approach from midway through our property.) Because of this, we d like to replace our existing sign with a slightly-bigger sign, and we'd like to put that sign about three feet off the sidewalk. Replacing the sign allows us to make the sign look nicer (to match our church and the greater neighborhood), but most importantly it allows for much better visibility from the street. Most churches in Hermosa Beach (the Christian Science Church, for example, or Our Lady of Guadalupe) have clear signs a few feet back from the sidewalk, and we d simply like to have the same signage in order to improve our visibility. We understand, now that we've done some research, that the 14 feet of our frontage closest to the street is actually a city right-of-way; it's a right-of-way St. Cross
has been using for more than 60 years uninterrupted, but nonetheless it's a city right-ofway. We hope, however, that we can find some way to be reasonable about this. We're a historic community institution simply trying to allow people to find us more easily. We're very proud of our good relationship with the city, and if the city were ever to need the right-of-way to widen Monterey Boulevard, our sign could be removed in a manner of minutes. (A much larger problem is the 10' by 15' brick stairs that lead to our front door, two-thirds of which is in the city right-of-way!) Similarly, we look up and down Monterey and see various permanent walls and fences that present much larger issues than our proposed sign, should Monterey ever need to be widened. We even look down the street and see Abe's Liquor at Monterey and Pier, and see their business sign easily within three feet of the sidewalk. All this is to say that we find ourselves in a unique situation: we'd like to make our signage a little clearer, but doing so involves putting a sign on city property. We re focused on improving our sign s visibility, and on making it represent all that goes on at our campus, but we re also committed to being good neighbors and members of the greater community. Would you, and the Planning Commission, consider granting us this unique exception? I can't thank you enough for all the hours you've spent reading and considering our project, particularly as it's gotten more and more complicated; I m especially grateful for the cheerful, helpful manner you and your co-workers have had throughout all our discussions. In Peace, Greg+ The Rev. Greg Brown Associate Rector St. Cross Episcopal Church
Picture A (Monterey Blvd. southbound, from the stop sign at 19 th St. Notice the sign, circled in red, is half obscured by trees.)
Picture B (Monterey Blvd. northbound, from midway up our property. Notice the sign, about 100 feet away and circled in red, is mostly obscured by trees.)