I was waiting for the comment.

All right, is it time?

All right.

All right.

So the Loudon County Board of Zoning Appeals is now in session.

Before we begin, I'm going to ask everyone to check their phones to make sure their phones are turned off or to silent.

If they're not in that mode, um the buzzing interrupts our meeting and it also interferes with the sound system.

If you wish to speak, please fill out a slip.

For each appeal, we will hear from staff first and then the applicant or their attorney, each of whom will have ten minutes.

All right, let's see what we're about.

Do we have any preliminary matters?

I'm not aware of any.

We do, actually.

Just to let everybody know, the first application on the agenda has been withdrawn by the owner.

All right.

So we'll move on to the all right.

Second.

All right.

So we are here to have a sorry, this um nomenclature is different.

It's a sign issue, and so I'm I'm it's LEGI 2024-0009 Cascades Marketplace Sign Development Plan.

And we will hear from staff first.

And who is this Mr.

Hambrick?

Yes, that is correct.

Thank you so much.

And before you speak, if you could say just again so that we have a clean record.

Um state your name and proceed.

Jacob Hambrick, I'm with uh Department of Planning and Zoning Principal Planner.

All right, thank you.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

My name is Jacob Hambrick.

I'm a principal planner with zoning administration.

Um this evening I will be presenting LEGI 2024 9 and ZMOD 2024 5 Cascades Marketplace Sign Development Plan.

The subject property consists of 30 acres.

And is located north of Route 7 and south of Palisades Parkway and is adjacent to the east side of Cascades Parkway.

By way of background, uh the subject property is is subject to a recent rezoning application, LEGI 2023-40, approved on December 13, 2023, which rezoned the property from PDH4 and ministered PDC C S C Plan Development Commercial Center Shopping Center to the TC Zoning District to allow for a mixed use development containing retail and residential uses.

The applicants seek deviations from the zoning order provisions for signage.

That is critical to the rebranding and identification for Cascades Marketplace.

As part of the rebranding, the applicants are seeking to modify requirements for ground, pole, and entry signs, as well as wall, window, de minimis, and miscellaneous signs within the zoning ordinance.

The above subject, the above project site location plan, uh located on page six of the staff report shows the approximate locations of the project ID signs, residential entrance signs, directional and directory signs, as well as the private recreation park signs, freestanding signs, and drive-through signs within the three separate block areas of the subject property.

For the proposed ground signs, the applicant is seeking deviation from the zoning ordinance by increasing the number of ground signs allowed from two to ten, increasing the cumulative area of ground signs from 120 square feet to 1,867 square feet, increasing the individual sign area from 60 square feet to 225 square feet and 700 square feet, and increasing the maximum height from eight feet to 10 feet.

Staff points out that some of these increases are due to the inclusion of the structure of the existing ground signs into the total area of those signs under the current zoning ordinance.

Under the previous zoning orders, the area of the sign did not include the structure the sign was affixed to.

Increase the cumulative area of signs from 120 square feet to 330 square feet.

Increase the individual sign area from 20 square feet to 30 square feet, and increase the maximum height of signs from eight feet to 12 feet and 14 feet.

For the proposed entry signs, the applicant is seeking deviations from the zoning orders by increasing the individual sign area from 60 square feet to 600 square feet and 700 square feet.

It is again noted that the increase in sign area is due primarily to the inclusion of the existing overall sign structure into the air area of the signs.

As stated previously under the revised 93 zoning ordinance, only the sign area and not the structure area would be counted.

The measurement of the actual Cascades market sign would be 50 square feet.

For the proposed wall signs, the applicant seeks to increase the number of allowed signs from four per building plus one per tenant space to a maximum of 10 tenant signs across three wall panels, plus six tenant for a combination of wall canopy and awning signs, as well as one per tenant blade sign.

For the proposed window signs, the applicant is seeking deviation from the zoning ordinance by increasing the number of allowed number allowed from four per building or four per tenant space to three per window of each tenant space, increasing the accumulative area from 25% of the total square footage of window area or 10 square feet to 25 percent maximum of each window of the tenant space and increasing the individual sign area from 1.5 square feet to five square feet.

For the proposed minimum signs, the applicant seeks to increase the cumulative area sign area of four square feet per building to two square feet per sign per use per building for regulatory signs as well as informational signs and plaques.

For proposed temporary signs, the applicant is seeking deviations from the zoning ordinance by increasing the individual sign area from 32 square feet to 100 percent of the temporary construction fence and window area of vacant retail tenant spaces, increasing the height from eight feet to below the roof line of the building for temporary banners, and 100% of the window area for vacant tenant spaces, decreasing the spacing from other signs on the same parcel from 20 feet to zero feet between signs, as well as modifying section 8.06 D, which limits the amount of time a temporary sign may be erected from 120 days within a 12-month period, to allow temporary banners to be up for 24 months, to allow temporary construction sign fences to be up for the from the commencement of construction until a certificate of occupancy is acquired for the building, and to allow temporary window signs to remain in place for each vacant retail space until the space becomes occupied.

For the proposed miscellaneous signs, the applicant is seeking deviations from the zoning ordinance by increasing the number of allowed signs from one per tenant public entry to 30 for electrical vehicle charging car charging stations, increasing the cumulative area from 32 square feet to 2,520 square feet for the for 30 electrical vehicle car charging stations, increasing the individual sign area from two square feet to 30 square feet per face of the electrical electric car charging stations and 12 square feet for per each side of the electric car charging station, as well as increasing the individual sign area from two square feet to 3.5 square feet for the accessible parking signs, as well as increasing the height of the signs from six to eight feet for the electrical electric vehicle charging stations and reserved parking reserve parking slash new parking signs, and increase from six feet to ten feet for the accessible parking signs.

Staff notes that the applicant seeks to increase the height of parking signage from six feet to ten feet to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirement, which requires parking signs to have a minimum height of seven feet measured from the bottom of the sign.

In the past parking signage was permitted and did not require sign permit.

When the regulations change from content-based to content neutral, parking signs fell under the incidental miscellaneous sign classification of the zoning ordinance.

As shown above, Section 1011.03 point D of the zoning ordinance addresses the approval criteria for which the proposed sign development plan may be approved by the BZA if the BZA finds that the request meets the criteria.

As detailed in Section 5 or page 19 of the July 24, 2025 BZA staff report, staff supports approval of the SID of the sign development plan, subject to the conditions of approval, and based on the findings for approval.

The applicant is the application is consistent with the Loudoun County 2019 general plan and meets the seven factors for consideration pursuant to section 1011.03 point D of the zoning ordinance.