Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Signage topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Walton County ZBA grants variance for single large Nature View entrance sign; several variances continued to March
Summary
The Walton County Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a conditional variance allowing a single 240-square-foot entrance sign for the Nature View subdivision, with the developer surrendering other sign locations; several other variance requests were continued to the March 27 ZBA meeting.
The Walton County Zoning Board of Adjustment on Feb. 27 approved a conditional variance allowing a single, larger entrance sign for the Nature View subdivision and voted to continue several other variance applications to the board’s March 27 meeting.
Jay Odom, the developer of Nature View, told the board the project covers about 300 acres with roughly 2 miles of road frontage along Highway 3280 and includes 792 single-family lots. He asked the board for a variance to install a single monument-style entrance sign 12 feet tall and 30 feet long, and said he would voluntarily give up the right to place any other signs at the subdivision’s additional entrances.
The requested sign area was described by staff and the applicant as 240 square feet versus the 48-square-foot maximum under the Walton County Land Development Code. County staff said the request "does not appear to satisfy the minimum requirements of section 1.16 0.03 of the land development code" absent additional evidence. Jay Odom told the board he considered the top portion of the proposed sign more artwork than traditional signage and said the property’s scale and distance to neighbors would make the single sign less visually dominant than the code anticipates.
Board members who spoke during the discussion cited the site’s unusual 2-mile frontage and the rural setting as factors supporting a variance. During debate the board amended the motion so that approval would apply to one sign for the entire property and would preclude the developer from erecting the additional signs otherwise allowed under the code. After the amendment, the board approved the conditional variance.
Earlier in the meeting the board heard a staff report and agreed to continue multiple variance applications — including requests identified in the transcript as Grove By The Sea, Wilkinson, Morrison, Royston, Ras Meyer (as read), Grama Rams Meyer (as read), and Marford — to the ZBA meeting on March 27, 2025. Staff said many applicants had requested the continuances, citing reasons such as family illness, and that some applicants welcomed the extra time.
The board also approved the December meeting minutes and adjourned. No letters in opposition to the Nature View sign were entered into the record, and the applicant said nearby property owners Matt Aresco and Lyle Ziegler were notified and had responded with no objections.
Why it matters: The board’s ruling sets a local precedent for how the county will apply sign-area limits on very large parcels with long road frontage. The approval is conditional and ties the larger single sign to the developer’s explicit surrender of other permitted entrance signs, a constraint the board discussed as a trade-off to preserve the intent of the sign ordinance while allowing an atypical design.
What’s next: The Nature View sign variance is approved with the condition that it be the only sign for the property; applicants whose cases were continued were told to return for the March 27 ZBA hearing.
