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Design Review Board approves LED monument sign for Cumberland United Methodist Church with aesthetic encouragement
Summary
The Florence City Design Review Board granted a certificate of appropriateness for an LED monument sign at 163 South Coit Street for Cumberland United Methodist Church; the board encouraged the applicant to consider a brick base and noted the application was filed before new design guidelines that would prohibit such signs.
The Florence City Design Review Board approved a certificate of appropriateness allowing Cumberland United Methodist Church to replace its existing monument sign with a new internally lit LED monument sign at 163 South Coit Street.
Planning staff said the proposed sign is in the Downtown Overlay District and Central Business District and complies with the current Unified Development Ordinance, but because it is an internally lit LED sign it requires Design Review Board approval. "This does meet the Unified Development Ordinance, but it is a internally lit, LED sign, so it does require design review board approval," planning staff said during the presentation.
Staff presented measurements and photos: the proposed sign is about 6.5 feet tall with a 2-foot-high base; the LED panel is approximately 6 feet 7 inches wide and 4.5 feet high. The applicant would place the new sign perpendicular to South Coit Street, replacing the existing parallel sign. Staff noted precedent: one LED reader board had been approved previously in the overlay district when its application arrived before the city's new design guidelines.
Board members and staff discussed the new guidelines, which were not yet effective for this application. Staff said the updated design guidelines would prohibit changeable-message or flashing signs in overlay districts; because this application was submitted before those guidelines took effect, the sign can be approved as a legal nonconformity under the current rules.
A board member suggested the applicant consider a masonry/brick treatment at the sign base to better match the church's building; the applicant said a foundation will be provided and that details such as brickwork had not been finalized. After discussion, a board member moved to approve the application as submitted and to encourage the applicant to consider a brick base; another member seconded the motion and the chair called the voice vote in favor. The board directed staff to issue the certificate of appropriateness.
No conditions limiting future changeable messaging were imposed beyond the requirement to comply with existing city standards; staff said future applications submitted after the new design guidelines take effect would not be eligible for this type of internally lit LED sign in overlay districts.
The church did not present final landscaping or masonry details at the meeting and said those would be finalized after approval.
