Downtown’s HomeGrown Brewing Company received special use approval to have a sign atop the roof of its front porch in a 6-0 vote of the Oxford Village Planning Commission April 4.

The 14-square-foot sign will be made of wood with brushed silver lettering. It will be lit using two small light-emitting diode (LED) spotlights shining on it and nowhere else.

Special use approval, or a waiver, was required because “roof signs or any sign which projects above the roof line” are “prohibited throughout the village,” according to the zoning ordinance.

Village Planner Chris Khorey, of the Northville-based McKenna Associates, explained roof signs are not permitted by right under the zoning ordinance for reasons pertaining to aesthetics and safety.

Aesthetically, he said it’s something that’s “pretty easy to abuse” by people looking to make their buildings taller.

Safety-wise, roof signs can be difficult to properly affix in order to satisfy building code requirements, according to Khorey.

But in HomeGrown’s case, the sign would be attached to a porch roof, which is below the two-story building’s roof, and Khorey said, “I haven’t seen any reason why this couldn’t be safely affixed.”

During a public hearing that preceded the commission’s vote, folks spoke for and against the sign advertising the new craft brewery and restaurant at 28 N. Washington St.

“The DDA (Downtown Development Authority) is in support of this business and the building and the sign,” said DDA Chairperson and village President Sue Bossardet. “In fact, we have already given him a sign grant.”

“I think it’s going to be a really nice addition to the downtown,” she noted.

Chuck Schneider, a local property owner and developer, felt differently.

“We worked long and hard to (create) this sign ordinance – a lot of time, a lot of effort – and now, we want to have a variance,” he said. “The word prohibited means forbidden. It’s not allowed. If we want to start a precedent of allowing roof signs, then I guess we go down that road, but I don’t see why it’s necessary.”

Schneider believes HomeGrown Brewing has options other than the porch roof for the placement of its sign.

“I don’t think we should be going down this road,” he said. “We just did the sign ordinance. It’s not that old. Forbidden means forbidden – not allowed. So, I don’t see why we’re even discussing this. It’s on the roof – not allowed.”

Village resident Sean Egan said he would be opposed to a roof sign that was atop a downtown building and was something that could be seen from his Dennison St. home.

But when it comes to HomeGrown’s sign, he said, “I think it looks great. I think it works.”

Bonnie Burdette-Wood expressed her opposition to the sign.

“In my opinion, it will take away from the other businesses that are along there that have gone along with the rules on their signage and everything else,” she said.

Khorey noted if this exact sign was affixed to the building wall, instead of the roof, as a projecting sign in the same location, “it would be permitted.”

“However, due to the design of the building, there is no logical place to put a projecting sign,” the planner wrote in his March 16 review letter.