{"id":27044,"date":"2024-06-20T20:18:23","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T20:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/porkys-smokehouse-faces-signage-dilemma\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:50:26","slug":"porkys-smokehouse-faces-signage-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/porkys-smokehouse-faces-signage-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"Porky\u2019s Smokehouse faces signage dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Porky\u2019s Smokehouse logo, which the owner wants to use in its sign at the Bayfield restaurant, 581 East Colorado Drive. (Courtesy of bayfieldgov.org)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Dayson Goetz faces a dilemma.<\/p>\n

The Porky\u2019s Smokehouse owner wants to replace the two existing fiberglass panels in the existing Wells Group sign in front of the Bayfield restaurant with two new fiberglass panels featuring his eatery\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

According to a town ordinance, however, Goetz said the town of Bayfield told him he would need to either replace the existing sign altogether or drop the existing sign to where it is no higher than 10 feet off the ground in order to add the new panels, Goetz said.<\/p>\n

Goetz estimates the existing sign is closer to 20 feet high.<\/p>\n

Goetz said putting in a new sign outright would cost closer to $10,000, adding that simply incorporating two new panels \u2013 one for each side \u2013 would cost $4,500.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the route I want to take,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The alternative would be to leave the existing sign as it is. Goetz said the problem is that this particular Wells Group location no longer exists and he would have to rely on banners on the side of the building to draw in customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that\u2019s not clean, and it\u2019s very unprofessional,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The existing Wells Group sign at Porky\u2019s Smokehouse in Bayfield advertises the Wells Group. The restaurant\u2019s owner, Dayson Goetz, wants to replace the sign with a new fiberglass panel featuring his eatery\u2019s name. (Courtesy of bayfieldgov.org)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Goetz filed a variance<\/a> on June 11 in order to change out the panels.<\/p>\n

According to an email Goetz sent to Community Development Director Nicol Killian, he would need to remove shrubs on both sides of the restaurant\u2019s driveway in order to drop it down.<\/p>\n

People won\u2019t be able to see the sign or their immediate surroundings upon exiting, Goetz said.<\/p>\n

People driving on U.S. Highway 160 wouldn\u2019t be able to see the lowered signs, and customers eating at the restaurant wouldn\u2019t be able to see oncoming traffic when they\u2019re leaving, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be blocking the driveway,\u201d Goetz said, adding that it\u2019s a safety issue.<\/p>\n

Killian said in an email to The Durango Herald<\/em> that the sign Goetz wants to use is considered \u201clegal nonconforming\u201d because it no longer meets the height or size requirements for a free-standing sign as depicted in Land Use Code Section 7-27,<\/a> which was adopted through Ordinance 421 on April 16, 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, if a new business wants to replace the sign face of a legal nonconforming sign, then they need to seek a variance from the Bayfield Planning Commission,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Killian added that the sign regulations say a free-standing sign can be a maximum of 60 square feet per side and a maximum of 10 feet in height from the ground to the top.<\/p>\n

The current sign, which is 8 feet by 9\u215a feet, does not meet those requirements, so it is considered legal nonconforming, Killian said.<\/p>\n

According to Article 3, Section 3-14<\/a> of the land-use code, which is a three-part process, variances that \u201callow construction of improvements are valid for a period of six months from the date of approval of the variance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConstruction of the improvements to be affected by the variance must have started before the six-month expiration date, or the variance will be declared void,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

mhollinshead@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Complications emerge amid Bayfield restaurant\u2019s efforts to replace panels in existing Wells Group sign<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[731,431,28,1231,450],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bayfield","tag-business-general","tag-headlines","tag-pine-river-times","tag-restaurant-and-catering"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79617,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044\/revisions\/79617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27044"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}