Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 2, 1993 TAG: 9302020082
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
SPORTS-BAR OWNERS TAKE DOWN SIGNS, DROP SUIT AGAINST TOWN
The owners of a downtown sports bar and restaurant have dropped a suit against the town and removed two signs outside the restaurant that violated the town's sign ordinance.Joe and Roya Nazare sued the town last year after officials ordered them to remove signs above Champs Sports Bar and Champions Italian Eatery that were larger than the town's code allows.
"Basically, we dropped that suit because he hadn't followed the proper procedures," said Marcus Long Jr., the Nazares' attorney.
Even so, Long said, the Nazare case is just another example of how the town unnecessarily hassles downtown merchants.
"The town does everything it can to hurt downtown businesses," Long said. "I feel very strongly about that."
Planning Director Bill West said he is pleased that the Nazares realized the signs were in violation of the code and took them down.
"We're very glad that we don't have to battle this out in court," he said.
West said Champions is a good business and that he is sorry the Nazares feel they have been slighted by the town.
The Nazares moved their business from South Main Street last year and added the sports bar at the 111 N. Main St. location.
Champs Sports Bar is upstairs, with a door on North Main Street and a stairway in the back. The only entrance to Champions, which is on the first floor, is a door in the back.
The back of the building faces the town's parking lot at Draper Road and Roanoke Street.
Because the Nazares have two separate business, they are allowed two 15-square-foot signs at the back of the building, West said. But the signs - measuring a total of 41 1/2 square feet - were too big and the Planning Department told the Nazares to take them down.
After two appeals to the Blacksburg Board of Zoning Appeals, the Nazares asked the Montgomery County Circuit Court to allow them to keep the signs.
Realizing the courts probably would rule against them, the Nazares took the signs down in December. Long dropped the suit last week.
The tall and narrow green and red signs, which cost about $1,000 each, now lie uselessly on the restaurant's roof.
The restaurant's only sign is printed on the sports bar's small awning in front of its North Main Street entrance.
"I'm kind of depressed because now I have to spend more money to get new signs," Joe Nazare said. "I really don't have any choice."
Nazare said the town's sign ordinance is entirely too strict. "These people think they are living in Palm Beach; this isn't Palm Beach," he said. "This is a college town. Go to any college town and there are signs all over the place."