Zoning board allows sign, but it's smaller

HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Holiday Inn Express in Shenango Township can put up a directional sign for lodgers coming off Pa. Route 18 in Hermitage, but it can't be as large as the builder wanted.
Travaglini Enterprises of Warren, Ohio, sought a variance of the city zoning ordinance to allow a sign to direct motorists off Route 18 onto Spangler Road to the newly built hotel overlooking the Pa. Route 60-Interstate 80-Route 18 interchange.
The Hermitage Zoning Hearing Board ruled Monday that the sign will be permitted at the northeast corner of Route 18 and Spangler Road, even though it isn't on the same property as the hotel itself, which is actually in Shenango Township.
Travaglini Enterprises wanted the sign to be nearly 21 square feet, but city zoning laws limit it to just 6 square feet.
The zoning board held Travaglini to that regulation.
In other business, the board ruled that a plan by Joe Toth of Brookfield to open a professional day spa with licensed massage therapy at 495 N. Hermitage Road (Route 18) is permissible in the institutional zoning district in which it will be located.