Signs of strife: Classic Bean owner struggles to promote new location

Juli Earl, owner of The Classic Bean, is frustrated.

Nearly a year after she opened a drive-thru branch of her coffee shop at 6750 S.W. 29th, she remains mired in a lengthy approval process for displaying the signs she says she needs for her struggling business.

She has pointed a finger at her landlord, Jim Garrison, saying he isn't helping her obtain approval. Garrison says he is limited by the rules of a property owners association that governs the location.

"(Garrison) begged me to come here," Earl said. "If I would have known this, I wouldn't have come. I should have been told up front."

Earl's lease requires her to stay for five years, she said.

Earl shares building space with Garrison's insurance business, Garrison Insurance and Financial Services. She said she has tried to set up a meeting with people from the property owners association, but the person she would need to speak with is in Mexico most of the time.

"I asked Jim Garrison if I could set up a meeting with (the person from the association)," Earl said, "and he told me: 'Good luck. I've only met him once.' "

Garrison said it isn't up to him to decide if Earl is allowed to put up a sign for her business. He said it is an issue that has to be taken up with Mission Woods Medical and Office Park, the planned unit development where the businesses are located.

The subdivision's master plan says "buildings will be owned by the individual users, but Mission Woods Owners Association Inc. will dictate the size, use, architecture, and building materials."

Mike Morse, a partner with KS Commercial Properties, which is affiliated with Mission Woods, said all of the business owners in the office park would have to approve adding new signs to any of the buildings.

City of Topeka planning manager Bill Hoover outlined the steps involved for the three parties -- the business owner, the landlord and the commercial property owners association -- in a location like the one at the northeast corner of S.W. 29th and Urish, where Earl operates.

A business owner has to go to the landlord with a mock design, Hoover said. Then the landlord goes to the property owners association to have it approved. After that, the landlord takes the design to the city planning office.

Garrison said Earl hasn't brought in a mock-up of a sign she would like to have. Earl said Garrison first told her she needed a mock-up in a meeting last week.

Although she gets business at the drive-thru, Earl said, customers have complained the business is difficult to find. Small signs by the front doors of the coffee shop aren't noticeable from S.W. 29th. A sign on the west side of the building is visible only to those driving on S.W. Urish.

"All we want is to be able to do business," Earl said. "I'm kind of at my wit's end."

Earl said she consulted with a Topeka lawyer to see if there was anything in her lease that forbid her from putting up signs, and the lawyer told her the lease didn't indicate she couldn't have signs. The lawyer declined to comment for this story, citing client privacy.

"I did put up signs at first, but a woman with the city, who was very nice and understanding, told me I had to take the signs down," Earl said.

Earl said she was told she would be fined if she puts a sign up in front of the business.

Garrison said he understood Earl's frustration because he also had to go through the process when he opened his insurance office last year.

He said he began planning in April and was able to put up signs by the end of July. However, he said, he didn't make any major changes to signs left behind by CoreFirst Bank and Trust.

"I just want a sign in front of my building -- that's all," Earl said.