Commission denies Pinkbox Doughnuts variance

Is it art? Or is it just poo? That was actually a main subject of discussion at the most recent meeting of the Boulder City Planning Commission.

The discussion took place surrounding what is quickly becoming the most controversial business in Boulder City even before it opens or begins actual construction — Pinkbox Doughnuts. In August, the company’s request — which was eventually approved — to get close to $100,000 in redevelopment fund reimbursement for painting the old 7-11 building on Nevada Way neon pink with sprinkles and a giant donut serving as a sort of entrance archway drew real opposition from residents and at least one member of the city council, Steve Walton.

Upping the ante, Amazing Brands, which owns the Pinkbox brand along with Siegle’s BagleMania, was asking for a variance from the city’s signage standard for businesses in order to put two giant, well, turds on the front of the building in a way that looks like they are holding it up.

The two characters are known as Pinky and Poo and are a major part of Pinkbox’s branding.

Crucially, despite multiple social media posts that are celebrating the fact that the commission denied this specific request, the denial does not mean no poo on Nevada Way. As was repeatedly pointed out both in this meeting and in the recent “you can paint it pink but I don’t want to pay for it” conversation among the board of the redevelopment agency (i.e. the city council). There are no design standards in place for this part of Nevada Way. The city can’t tell a business anything about the content of their signage.

But city code does limit the number of “freestanding advertising structures” a business can have and how far apart they need to be. A business with one street frontage can have just one structure and a business with actual frontage on two streets can have two. But they need to be at least 100 feet apart. Pinkbox wants three structures (two poo emojis and a separate freestanding sign) and so they went to the planning commission seeking a variance. The commission denied that variance request.

Pinkbox can still go to the city council and ask them to overrule the planning commission. But, bottom line is that if they want to use their single-allowed structure with either Pinky or Poo, there is nothing the city can do to stop them.

In an extended exchange between Commissioner Steve Rudd and City Planner Nakisha Lyon, the whole question of art versus advertising was explored.

“Look at this poo emoji,” Rudd said. “I mean, it’s literally a symbol inside my Apple phone. It’s a poop emoji.”

“It is a character uniquely attributable to Pinkbox,” Lyon countered. “They have two specific donuts that are in this shape.”

Rudd: “But these don’t say Pink Box on them anywhere. It’s just a characteristic character, right?”

“Lyon: “It’s a character unique to Pink Box.”

Rudd: “Pinkbox is art.”

Lyon: “We define it as signage.”

Rudd continued, “Okay. So, you’re saying because this is part of their formal corporate brand, it’s considered signage? But if you’re a regular business, you can just throw something on the property and call it art even to advertise? It’s really subjective whether or not it’s art. Or is it based on if it’s a corporation, it’s a sign and if it’s privately owned and they don’t have a brand per se it’s art. Is it subjective? Is it staff driven of who decides if it’s art or signage?”

Lyon responded with the example of McDonald’s Golden Arches. “Let’s take a McDonald’s arch. Somebody could argue that’s art, but no. When people see that McDonald’s arch, they know that’s McDonald’s. So that’s advertising.”

In their variance application, Pinkbox called Pinky and Poo, “beloved by children as iconic visuals of the brand.” In their justification, they pointed to the freestanding pig in front of Fox Barbecue, an issue Rudd also brought up.

“So, what about the pig at Fox’s Barbecue?” he asked. “That’s specific to Fox Barbecue’s logo.”

“So there’s a pig on the side that’s cut apart. That was interpreted as art. While the logo on the front of the pig that is actually a part of their branding and a part of their company. So that was a sign,” Lyon said.

A number of residents also spoke up, all of them opposed to Pinky and Poo on Nevada Way with most of them, as in the arguments about the city paying for painting the building bright pink, centered on the design not matching the “historic nature” of the area and Boulder City in general.

Tara Bertoli, who owns the Boulder City Company Store and who was the recipient of a cease and desist order from Pink Box (see related story on page 1) broached the subject of the double entendre of the donut chain’s motto, “So good you’ll lick the box.”

“I don’t know if this town understands that, but that’s not small town agenda,” she told the commission. “And I don’t know why they think that we would want that kind of humor to grace the downtown corridor. I don’t know what their agenda is. I don’t know why they’re in Boulder City, but they need to stay in Henderson.”