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Public hearing will target new sign for Hotel California
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
A five-person township board of appeals is set to hear about a new sign for Hotel California on Thursday.
The public hearing, set for 7 p.m. at the township hall, 82 Ohltown Road, is a procedural hearing by the township, Zoning Inspector Darren Crivelli said. The hotel, 1051 N. Canfield-Niles Road and also 5455 Clarkins Drive, wants an LED sign, 10-feet-by-25-feet, to replace the old sign, which was a bit bigger, that had advertised the hotel’s previous identity, Economy Inn and Suites.
The permit would be conditional and for a three-year period, according to the township ordinance dealing with sign permits.
The reason for a conditional permit is procedural, Crivelli explained in an email.
“In the past two years we have had hearings for Taco Bell [to replace the sign that fell], Candlewood Suites and Holiday Inn Express ... based on the new business and the digital hi-rise sign request it was my determination a conditional use hearing would be required.”
Included in the appeal paperwork The Vindicator received is a letter dated Aug. 29 asking for the new sign and included a detailed site plan. Sebastian Rucci, hotel owner, signed the document, which states, “the new signs will be exactly the same size and will be at the same elevation as the sign that [has] been at the hotel for decades. We are not adding a new sign, we are simply modernizing the existing signs to advertise for the hotel.”
It added, “the new LED sign is similar [but smaller] to the new LED signs located along Route 46.”
The most recent board of appeals hearing related to a case about signage was June 26 for Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course and their decision to put Hollywood Gaming on the facility’s water tower. That permit was unanimously approved.
The new LED sign for Hotel California would be installed upon the black pole that sits in front of Hotel California currently, since the Economy Inn and Suites sign was taken down earlier this year. That pole is 75 feet tall and will remain that height.
Crivelli isn’t sure if this will be part of a bigger trend by businesses to go digital with signage.
“I think you obviously have a cost factor just putting up a regular sign ... I don’t know if this is going to be a trend,” he said.
Also in the documents as part of the sign request, township officials included the original sign paperwork from 1987, a 10-feet-by-29-feet sign for the then-Quality Inn. That permit was dated Dec. 18, 1987.
The debate around the sign is just another step for the hotel to get closer to opening. Rucci and the township are still awaiting their day before the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control on the facility’s liquor license.
Business partners of Rucci’s in the new hotel, John Batcho and Dave Robich, discussed wanting the township to give the hotel a chance at an Austintown trustee meeting Sept. 8. The main point of contention that day was the hotel’s liquor license being opposed by both Mahoning County and Austintown Township.
The appeal hearing before the Ohio Division of Liquor Control had been scheduled for Sept. 8, but was pushed back by the township. Matt Mullins, spokesman for the liquor control, said that hearing has yet to be scheduled, but will take place in November.
Rucci has previously said that he wanted to open in October before horse racing begins at Hollywood Gaming on Nov. 24.
At that Sept. 8 meeting, trustees Jim Davis and Lisa Oles and former trustee and current Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler spoke about past experiences with Rucci and the former Go Go Girls cabaret, which was at the same location as the hotel.
Two residents spoke against the liquor license and two suggestions from those in opposition to the liquor license echoed frequently were the idea of Rucci hiring a hotel-management company and operating for a time without liquor.