Rio Nuevo seeks TCC sign exemption amid opposition

“When you drive by the TCC and see a parking lot full of vehicles, you have no way of knowing what’s going on there,” Rio Nuevo Chairman Fletcher McCusker said.

So Rio Nuevo included plans to purchase two electronic message signs as part of its $7.8 million renovation project.

All they have to do is get an exemption from the city’s Sign Code Advisory and Appeals Board to place the 12-foot high, 48.5-square-foot signs along South Church and South Granada avenues. The exemption was needed because the TCC was placed into a special Pedestrian Business District about three decades ago, which caps sign limits at 20 square feet.

But opposition has sprung up mostly from astronomers and star watchers who fear adding additional lighted signage would interfere with their work.

Approving the signs could jeopardize future federal government projects at Kitt Peak and across the region, Lori Allen, Kitt Peak National Observatory director, told the city sign advisory board during a hearing on Wednesday.

She said some people could interpret the approval of the new signs as an indication Tucson doesn’t care about preserving dark skies. And that could result in a loss of astronomy-related business.

“That’s not the message we want to send,” Allen said during the hearing.

McCusker said most of the 25 protests filed against the signs were arguing against the wrong topic.

“There is some confusion in the community that we are asking for this big honking sign that uses a lot of electricity,” McCusker said. “We’re not. We’re just asking for a size variance.”

McCusker said the signs will comply with city light codes.

About two-thirds of the signs will be electronic.

Although the advisory committee delayed a vote on whether to grant Rio Nuevo an exemption, one board member offered her opinion.

“I think electronic signs, for the most part, are just ugly,” said board member Andrea Kennedy.

The board will take up the matter at its December 10 meeting.