Hanover Township's Zoning Hearing Board reviewed two requests at an Aug. 23 hearing.

In the first appeal, the local subsidiary of Anthony Properties, AP Allentown, asked for approval for a directional sign at the Carmike Theater property near the Valley View Mall at 1700 Catasauqua Road.

AP Allentown owns the building and leases it to Carmike.

"This is not a billboard sign, but only a sign that would assist movie patrons in locating the theater," said Brian Shiu, the company's local leasing representative.

Last month, the township granted A Duie Pyle approval to construct a vehicle repair shop on a berm in front of the theater building. According to Shiu, the new facility will further obscure the entrance to the theater parking lot.

"The people at Duie Pyle approached us when they were doing the planning for the building about putting up the sign," he said.

The new sign would be on property owned by the trucking company, which prompted the board's attorney, Mark Malkmas, to add a second variance to the request. The original request implied that the sign would be on Carmike's property.

Shiu estimated the size of the internally lighted sign as seven feet by 10 feet.

"The overall design is not complete," he said. "We turned the design of the sign over to Carmike's graphic department. The concept is to have a sign with Carmike's script and an arrow pointing to the parking lot entrance."

According the township ordinance, Informational signs are limited to 50 square feet, so a variance was needed for the larger sign. The board granted approval for that.

"We want to be sure that our customers can get to the parking lot entrance," Shiu said. "The property can't be easily seen from the major highway or even from the shopping mall. The sign is important to Carmike's business."

In his initial presentation, Shiu indicated Anthony Properties buys parcels around theater buildings to add restaurants for moviegoers.

"Over the years since Carmike opened its doors, we have been unable to attract restaurants to the parcels and have been selling off the land," he said. The sign becomes an important part of directing customers to the theater since there are no other surrounding attractions.

In the second appeal, Dr. Iqbal Sorathia asked for permission to set up a physician's office in a vacant office building at 2490 Schoenersville Road.

"There would be one physician, an assistant and office personnel at this location," Sorathia said. "Most of the patients would be on an appointment, but we would offer walk-in service, too."

Dr. Sorathia has three other physician locations in the area. The building is nonconforming in that the lot size is less than the township's requirement of 30,000 square feet and the building does not meet setback requirements. Nicholas Begovich, the building's owner, testified the township's parking space requirements are met and Zoning Officer Sandra Pudliner verified the parking standards. The building does have handicapped access ramps.

Begovich indicated a portion of the building has been vacant for two years. There were two tenants in the building at one point, but Sorathia will take over the whole property and make interior changes to accommodate five patient rooms.

Malkmas suggested that the board add a contingency that Sorathia could not expand the building's exterior without an approval from the zoning hearing board. The board approved the variance with that restriction.