The Board of Adjustment granted the Church of Scientology a variance request for a change to the church’s logo on its sign facing the street.
Mike McHone, who represented the Church of Scientology at the BoA meeting that took place Feb. 13, said in an interview that the approval was among the last technical hurdles the church had to surmount before finally opening to the public, after years of back and forth with the city.
The church opened on the Drag in 1967, but was temporarily relocated to a building in the Hancock neighborhood in 2017 because of major renovations.
“They remodeled it completely,” McHone said. “New exterior, new interior, but all built in compliance with the University Neighborhood Overlay as far as the streetscape.”
According to McHone, the back and forth with the BoA began in 2018, when the church applied for and received the three permits the city determined it needed: one for the wording of the sign on each side of the building, and one for the emblem – all of which were approved for illumination.
But a major update to the UNO took place in 2019, in which the city inadvertently changed the sign ordinance and removed illumination from being allowed for exterior, street-facing signs.
In 2019, the church decided to change its emblem to a different logo, with the same size and lighting. But the variance request was denied because of the change in the illumination ordinance.
“The real issue is that we were given the rights for the sign to be illuminated in 2018, and we have now been stripped of those rights by a mistake in the ordinance that the city hasn’t been able to fix in three years,” McHone said.
Now the BoA has approved the sign, including the new emblem and illumination. But McHone said the process was extremely expensive, costing around $5,000, and burdensome – yet all but mandatory for each business on the Drag.
After years of delay with both the variance issues and COVID, the church is just about ready to open once it holds its “formal dedication procedure” and opening ceremony.
McHone said that in a busy city like Austin it has been a challenge to find a week that doesn’t conflict with an event, such as the South by Southwest festival or UT graduation, so it can close down Guadalupe Street for the ceremony.
“We’re excited for it to open,” he said. “We need more activity on that corner of the Drag.”
With its updated logo and illuminated sign, the Church of Scientology awaits a calm week during which it can hold its opening ceremony and officially welcome the public through its doors.
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City of Austin Board of Adjustment: The city's Board of Adjustment is a quasi-judicial body that decides on variances, special exceptions and can issue interpretations of code.
City of Austin University Neighborhood Overlay (UNO): A set of design guidelines for a portion of the City of Austin that includes the West Campus, North University, and Hancock neighborhood areas.
