Developer seeks sign variance after freestanding sign erected over county drainage easement

Planning staff presented a request to modify a 2001 zoning condition and to grant a concurrent variance for a freestanding gas station sign installed at the southwest corner of Georgia Highway 20 and Mount Olive Church Lane. Engineering noted the sign was erected over a 24-inch reinforced concrete pipe in a county drainage easement without a permit and recommended that the applicant either record an indemnity agreement and pay for any future reconstruction or relocate the sign to avoid the easement.

Commissioners questioned the applicant's decision to build without a permit. "Built the sign without a permit. That's not a good start," one commissioner said. Staff provided a draft agreement that would require the applicant to indemnify the county and to reconstruct the sign at the applicant's expense if the pipe required repair. Staff said the board could make the execution of that agreement a condition of any approval or direct staff to proceed with permitting only after the agreement is fully executed and recorded.