BZA OKs internally illuminated monument sign for Beacon Bluff Medical with conditions

The North Augusta Board of Zoning Appeals on Jan. 7 approved a variance allowing Beacon Bluff Medical LLC to install an internally illuminated monument sign at 150 Bluff Avenue, concluding the site’s layout and surrounding buildings create unique visibility challenges that justify the exception from the city’s sign rules.

Planning staff apologized to the board for a packet omission and summarized the request: a freestanding (monument) sign at the corner of Center Street and Bluff Avenue, with internally illuminated letters and logo, sized to stay under the district’s maximum square footage. Planning staff told the board the building sits below several thoroughfares, is flanked by a large municipal building and a parking garage that limit sightlines, and that external illumination would likely blend into background lighting; staff referenced article 9 (signs) rules and said neon tubing is an existing code alternative but would produce different front-facing glare.

Fletcher Dickard, representing the property owner and the contractor (Allen Bachelor Construction), described the proposed sign as small in scale relative to the building and oriented toward traffic approaching the corner to improve wayfinding. Dickard said the sign company recommended traditional internal illumination (LED) rather than halo lighting to make the monument sign more visible at eye level. "The letters are internally illuminated as well," Dickard said, and he said most such signs use LED lighting.

Board members considered the variance criteria in North Augusta Development Code section 18.4.4.2 and discussed the applicant’s arguments that strict application of the sign rules would cause unnecessary hardship because the building’s massing and adjacent public structures limit visibility. The board agreed the parcel has extraordinary and exceptional conditions not common in the district and that the authorization would not substantially detract from adjacent properties or public good.

The board approved the variance with two conditions recommended by staff: (1) the monument sign shall use internal illumination and be of the design shown in the application; and (2) the variance is specific to this application and does not run with the land or apply to other signage. Board members discussed but did not add a mandatory timer or hours-of-operation condition; the applicant said the sign would likely be on a time clock and that the client would not object to time limits if the board wanted them. The motion to approve passed unanimously among members present; the board noted one member, Mr. Burkhalter, had to leave early and was not present for the final vote.