The York County Planning Commission declined to recommend approval of a special-use permit that would have increased the cumulative wall sign area for a proposed Panda Express at 6632 Mooretown Road.

County staff presented the application and recommended denial, saying the applicant had not shown the statutory hardships required under the sign provisions of the zoning ordinance. The applicant sought to increase cumulative wall sign area from the 97.5 square feet allowed by the zoning calculation to 144 square feet by adding two 6-foot diameter round wall signs (36 square feet each) to sides of the building facing Mooretown Road and an adjacent car wash. Staff noted the business already had approval for two 6-foot round wall signs on the east and south elevations (72 square feet total) and a 200-square-foot monument sign along Mooretown Road.

Staff said the applicant had submitted three hardship arguments—traffic patterns, sight lines and corporate image—but that the evidence did not meet the ordinance threshold. Staff noted the parcel’s measured frontage differed from the applicant’s narrative (staff found about 190 feet by 244 feet; the applicant’s narrative cited 120 feet by 280 feet), and said visibility had improved after the property owner obtained a special exception in December 2023 to clear eight trees from the green-belt buffer along Mooretown Road. Staff also pointed to a nearby Panda Express on Victory Boulevard that uses slightly smaller (5.5-foot) round signs and fits within the ordinance limits as an example of how to meet corporate signage goals without a variance. For these reasons staff recommended denial.

The applicant was not present at the hearing because of inclement weather and asked for a continuance to the Feb. 12, 2025 meeting. The commission opened the public hearing and heard one speaker, Tim Cross of 109 Holloway Drive, Queens Lake. Cross urged denial, saying the county’s greenbelt standard and the existing signalized entrances give sufficient visibility and that allowing exceptions for national retailers would undercut local sign standards. He said any added inconvenience for motorists would be negligible and that Panda Express should have known local standards when it applied.

After discussion, several commissioners said the facts presented by staff were sufficient to decide the case without the applicant present. The commission then closed the public hearing and voted on a motion to adopt Resolution PC 25-1 to authorize the increased wall sign area. The motion failed.

The commission did not adopt an alternate resolution and the application will return to the county process without a Planning Commission recommendation for increased wall sign area unless the applicant requests a new submittal or seeks reconsideration.