Commission denies request for off‑premise digital sign at 3366 Cottage Hill Road

The Planning Commission voted to deny an application to erect an off‑premise digital pylon sign at 3366 Cottage Hill Road after staff and commissioners said the proposal would effectively create billboard‑style advertising for businesses not located on the property.

Applicant Dennis Langan said the sign would be a digital pylon (approximately 200 square feet as shown in application renderings) and that he planned to use it to advertise tenants at a shopping center across the street, a proposed car wash and occasional messages for nonprofits and churches. Staff clarified the proposed size and height complied with zoning as presented but that the Unified Development Code (UDC) and the city’s billboard regulations prohibit off‑premise advertising except through the billboard permitting process (which in some cases requires removal of other billboard faces if a new digital face is added).

Board members expressed concern that approval would create a precedent for informal billboards and enable scrolling, multi‑tenant advertising or sub‑leasing of display time, which would circumvent the city’s billboard rules. One commissioner noted the applicant already has a multi‑tenant sign on a separate property and questioned whether the new sign would be used primarily to generate third‑party advertising revenue. After deliberation a board member moved to deny; a second was recorded, the board voted aye and the motion carried.

Staff also noted that the billboard regulations include conversion rules for digital signs (removing older faces when adding digital faces) and buffers from residential areas for new billboards. No members of the public registered in favor or opposition during the hearing.