Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/360116
such pop-pop-gee-whiz-wow displays are not permitted. Only messages are allowed, fading in and out. "Videos and animations are prohibited, of course," said Courtney Mendez, the senior planner who chairs the DRC. She reminded him the new sign would have to be dimmed at night, as well. And the Sarasota County Fire Department representative said that includ- ing the address on the sign would be required, with numbers "a minimum of 6 inches high." But with those provisos in mind, Martin received the sign-off for his $100,000 sign, paid for with a county grant funded by the penny surtax revenue. Next step for him is the Sept. 10 city Planning Board meeting. IS LIFT STATION 87 JINXED? The next project on the agenda was not as fortunate. The city's star-crossed Lift Station 87 design came before the DRC, seeking approval for the new aboveground mechani- cal complex of pumps and generators. "We're coming in with a revised concept," said Tom Cross, a project manager with the engineering design firm of McKim & Creed. "It is a two-story building with a majority of the equipment on the second floor." A previous plan put the sewer pumping facil- ity entirely underground, but for a host of reasons, that plan was abandoned. One of the concerns was vulnerability to storm-surge flooding. Since the installation will handle about one-third of the city's sewage, plus all of Sarasota Memorial Hospital's sewage, the city commissioners agreed to put it aboveground and to make certain it is tall enough to sur- vive a Category 3 hurricane storm surge. Unfortunately, it appears as if the proposed building is too high. "With the restrictions on This architectural rendering of Lift Station 87 was presented to the public on July 14. Image courtesy City of Sarasota Sarasota News Leader August 8 & 15, 2014 Page 24