After nearly a year of negotiations, some minor adjustments and a persistent effort from the owners, Bethesda Scooters and Boards received a permit Thursday from Montgomery County to rehang the giant skateboard sign the county forced the owners to take down last year.
“Even though it took a long time to get the permit, I really feel like the sign is going to be a good thing for our business and our community,” Kaare Wieneke, a co-owner of the store, said Thursday. “Now people can say, ‘Meet me at the giant skateboard.’ ”
The owners of the store, Wieneke and Tyson Plumbtree, previously installed the giant 12-foot-long blue skateboard above their store near Veterans Park in March 2014. About a month later the county sent them a notice that it was unpermitted and that the business would be charged $500 per day for each day the sign stayed up past a May 10 deadline.
The owners took it down, but didn’t give up on it.
They hired a structural engineer, Thomas Kozlowski, who dealt with the county to guide the owners through the permitting process. At first it was a struggle for the owners; a county permitting official sent multiple emails to Kozlowski that said the sign did not conform to county code because it wasn’t a “geometric shape.”
Eventually the county came around, Wieneke said, and granted the permit. The owners did agree to make some changes—they trimmed the board’s size so it’s lighter and thinner. They also added lettering saying “Bethesda Boards,” which will be attached to the bottom of the board. The board will face Woodmont Avenue.
On Thursday, Wieneke was outside the shop setting up scaffolding to rehang the sign on the posts where it previously hung. By the end of the day, the skateboard was back up, but some adjustments were being made to the lettering.
