The bug infestation shows no sign of being exterminated. In fact, the big bug is being catered to. In 2013, it was AutoNation VW asking for a zoning change to allow them to expand their auto dealership in Richardson's Interurban District ("Lemon"). The City Council complied. For some reason, AutoNation didn't go through with their plans, but in 2022, the dealership, now Clay Cooley VW, was back again, asking for approval to expand the car dealership. Again the City Council complied. Now in 2024, Clay Cooley VW is back yet again, this time with two different requests. On August 12, the City Council will hear a request for Clay Cooley VW to add a repair shop, a body shop, and a vehicle storage lot on the property. Separately, they are asking for a variance on the height of their business sign, wanting to erect a 39 foot pole sign, despite an ordinance limiting pole signs to 20 feet.
Like a frog boil, Clay Cooley VW is getting its way by making requests one by one, little by little, until eventually the Richardson frog is boiled and the vision for the Interurban District is damaged so thoroughly that nothing can put it back together. The City Council has been complicit each step of the way.
As a reminder, the vision for the Interurban District was spelled out in the City of Richardson's "Main Street/Central Expressway Study" of January, 2013.
The Interurban District could become a vibrant, mixed-use district that builds upon the existing block structure and buildings in the area. Today's industrial/commercial district, made up of tilt wall and block masonry buildings dating from the 1960's to the 1980's, could transform into an eclectic live/work neighborhood through reuse of the existing building stock for specialty industrial, commercial, retail/restaurant and residential uses. Vacant and underutilized parcels could be redeveloped into urban housing in the form of loft apartments and live-work units.Source: City of Richardson.
As I said in 2013, sometimes I wonder why the City even goes through the exercise of conducting a study, soliciting community inputs, imagining all the greater and best uses that the properties in Richardson could be put to, only to lie down for the first car dealer to come along.
Comments of Councilmembers gave clues why they rolled over for Clay Cooley VW.
Councilmember Joe Corcoran: "I just can't envision another business use for that property." Say what?!? Corcoran exhibits a sad lack of imagination. Keep that blindered thinking away from the update to the City Comprehensive Plan.
Councilmember Ken Hutchenrider: "We've done a really good job as a city controlling, I want to use the word sign pollution, maybe that's the wrong word to use, but I'll use it anyway... So I just, if you told me that we could just tie it to current occupant if you will, or however you wanted to say that, I would probably feel a whole lot better."
Hutchenrider started strongly, then caved. "Sign pollution" is not the wrong word. And, yes, Richardson has done a good job of controlling it. You CAN'T tie a variance to just the current occupant. Worse, if Clay Cooley VW is granted a variance, other businesses will also want variances, and will be hard to deny with Clay Cooley VW as a precedent. Mayor Bob Dubey tried to head down that road already when he tried to use Toyota's signs as a precedent to grant the Clay Cooley VW sign request, saying, "I believe the Toyota sign is that high or higher." He was quickly shut down by City staff: "Actually, the Toyota signs are, most of those are actually at 20 feet." So why would Hutchenrider feel a "whole lot better" taking even the first step down that road, knowing where it'll lead?
Councilmember Dan Barrios: "My concern is that other businesses' signs would be covered by this monster of a sign. If that were on a major intersection like Reliable Chevrolet, I wouldn't have an issue. To me it would be 'Yeah, I'm good with it.' "
Barrios isn't concerned with sign pollution, he's concerned with the effect on the signs of other businesses. My guess is that the Reliable Chevrolet sign was grandfathered in when the 20 foot height limit was added to the sign ordinance. Regardless, Barrios didn't ask why we have a 20 foot limit, or why there isn't a blanket exception for "major intersections." My guess is that City leaders in the past wanted to control "sign pollution", in Hutchenrider's keen choice of words, throughout the City, not just in midblock locations. This is a good time to repeat my advice to City Council to research WHY we have ordinances in the first place before we go changing them. What do you know now that the City Council then didn't know? Why didn't they grant exceptions for "major intersections?"
Ultimately, the Council couldn't bring themselves to approve this sign variance, at least not without cover of holding a public hearing to be able to claim the public doesn't care about "sign pollution." So they voted 6-1 to schedule a public hearing on Clay Cooley VW's request. Given that there are no single family homes nearby, likely no one will come to object. Neighboring businesses won't object, either, in case they ever want their own big signs. The real test will come at that public hearing to see if anyone on City Council itself cares enough about "sign pollution" to stick to a tried-and-true policy that's controlled it so far.
We already know one member of Council who doesn't care. It was the lone dissenter to even giving the public an opportunity to be heard. That was Mayor Dubey. His reasoning sheds light on his values and principles and why Richardson rolls over time and again in cases like this.
Mayor Dubey: "I think about the applicant and all of the renovations they've done to upgrade that site, and what they've done. They poured a lot of energy into that to make it more appealing in that area. So a new sign kind of goes with this is all I would say. It complements what they've already done. So I'm a little hesitant not to say it because I think their investment in the city of Richardson is significant based on what they have done and what they're in the process of doing."
Every time we get a car, this place turns into a whorehouse.
Source: Don Draper, Mad Men.
Maybe Don Draper of "Mad Men" put it crudely, but the principle is the same. In short, money talks. Car dealers are often the biggest retailers in many cities. The bigger they are, the more likely mayors will take their call. — What do you want now, Mr. Cooley? A honkin' big new sign? Yes, sir. —
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
"Bug creeps in at night,
City bows to its requests,
Vision slowly fades."
—h/t ChatGPT
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