ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA County Board Agenda Item Meeting of July 21, 2012 DATE: July 13, 2012 SUBJECT: ZOA-12-01 Zoning Ordinance amendment to Sections 20, 20 (Appendix A), 31A, 34 and 37 to reorganize the sign regulations in the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance and to amend regulations on amount of sign area, number of signs, distance signs may be placed from residential uses and/or zoning districts, direction signs may face, types of signs allowed and Form Based Code sign regulations. C. M. RECOMMENDATION: Adopt the attached ordinance (Attachment A) to amend, reenact and recodify the sign regulations in the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance, Sections 20, 20 (Appendix A), 31A, 34 and 37, as attached in Attachments B and C. ISSUES: An extensive public outreach process resolved a number of community concerns. There are a few areas where public opinion has been divided, as follows: • Signs allowed to be placed in the public right-of-way by private parties • County Board review of sign requests • Regulations for signs above a height of 40 feet, and hours of illumination and direction such signs face. SUMMARY: This is a proposed amendment to comprehensively revise the sign regulations in Sections 20, 20 (Appendix A), 31A, 34 and 37 of the Zoning Ordinance. The proposed amendments present a new format and organization for the regulations; refine current regulations to incorporate additional flexibility, facilitate creativity and innovation; allow administrative approvals for most signs; codify consistent administrative practices not previously reflected in the Ordinance; and incorporate some new standards and technologies not currently incorporated in the Ordinance. BACKGROUND: In December 2010, the County Board accepted a work plan for a two-phased approach to comprehensively update the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance over two years, starting in January 2011. In October 2011, after an extensive public outreach process, the County Manager: ##### County Attorney: ***** 50. Staff: Deborah Albert, DCPHD, Planning Division PLA-6231 Planning Commission requested additional time for review of the comprehensive revisions to the sign regulations, extending the process to July 2012. Phase I Phase II Comprehensive revisions to sign Technical updates to the remainder of regulations and codification of the Zoning Ordinance to reorganize and regulations based upon current policies reformat the regulations and incorporate and administrative practices, among tables and illustrations, with only minor other considerations policy changes The sign regulations work plan identified the following goals: • Improve comprehension of the Ordinance for Arlington citizens and businesses • Enhance ease of compliance with the Zoning Ordinance for Arlington citizens and businesses • Incorporate best practices and Arlington-specific practices • Enhance ease of administration of the Zoning Ordinance • Reduce the frequency with which sign approvals require County Board consideration. This work includes codifying existing practices, ensuring compliance with Virginia Code, constitutional and other requirements, reviewing existing policies and regulations, and reformatting the ordinance to make it easier to use and understand. In December 2011, the County Board adopted some initial amendments to the sign regulations to allow temporary sidewalk signs, umbrella signs and to facilitate use of way finding signs for public parking facilities. Community Process. The process implemented for the update of the sign regulations achieved the goals identified in the work plan through effectively informing and engaging affected stakeholders. The community interaction was organized in four stages: Stage 1 Prior to development of recommendations, County staff conducted a public meeting to inform the community on the sign regulations conversation and to hear from the community about a vision for signs in Arlington. Stage 2 A Zoning Committee of the Planning Commission (ZOCO) forum provided opportunities for the community to provide input to ZOCO members and staff on draft regulations at the policy level. Stage 3 Staff conducted a third public meeting after making proposed preliminary zoning regulations available to the public in order to obtain feedback from the community. Stage 4 Prior to preparing a proposed Request to Advertise, staff asked the community to review further revisions to preliminary regulations based upon ongoing public outreach. During each stage, outreach was conducted in various formats. The following focus group discussions brought together stakeholders who share common interests: • Arlington Chamber of Commerce • Citizens ZOA-12-01: Sign regulations update PLA-6231 - 2 - • Civic Federation • Commercial and residential real estate brokers and property managers • NVBIA/NAIOP (Northern Virginia Building Industry Association/National Association of Industrial and Office Properties) • Sign Industry • Small businesses/Restaurants. Public workshops were designed to bring together diverse groups of stakeholders in a single setting in order to allow community members with varying views to talk with each other, raise issues and comment on public review drafts. Public meetings covered the following topics: • Purposes of signs and sign regulations in the County (April 12, 2011) • Review of policy recommendations (September 13, 2011) • Review of preliminary draft ordinance proposal (October 19, 2011) • Review of a revised draft of the ordinance amendment prior to requesting authorization to advertise (May 3 and 5, 2012). Advisory groups and commissions reviewed the sign regulations specific to their area of interest: • Economic Development Commission (EDC) and Retail Task Force: The EDC, joined by members of the Retail Task Force, participated in three focus group discussions during each of the first three stages identified above. The EDC formally heard the draft regulations following the publishing of Public Draft 3, at their meeting on May 8, 2012. • Form Based Code Advisory Working Group (FBC AWG): The FBC AWG discussed draft amendments to the sign regulations in the Form Based Code at four meetings, in October and November 2011 and February and March 2012 and AWG members have expressed general support for the draft amendments. • Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB): The HALRB reviewed draft regulations relevant to historic districts and other historic buildings where a Certificate of Appropriateness is required at their meetings on September 21, 2011 and April 18, 2012. • Zoning Committee of the Planning Commission (ZOCO): ZOCO reviewed the draft through its regular process for reviewing Zoning Ordinance amendments. From March 2011 to May 2012, ZOCO met 19 times to review draft regulations, and attended a bus tour to observe lighted signs in the County. • Planning Commission: The Planning Commission heard the Request to Advertise at its June 4, 2012 meeting, and recommended that the County Board authorize the proposed amendment with the inclusion of 17 additional items to broaden the scope of advertisement. Comment matrices including comments and staff responses on all topics are attached in attachments E and F, showing community comments and Zoning Committee of the Planning Commission comments, respectively. DISCUSSION: The revisions to the sign regulations address a range of sign types and standards. Most of the updates provide clarification and refinements to existing regulations and ZOA-12-01: Sign regulations update PLA-6231 - 3 - codify consistent administrative practices and policies not currently reflected in the Zoning Ordinance. Highlights. Highlights of the proposed amendment are discussed below within three functional areas to describe how the proposed amendment meets the goals established in the work plan and through other initiatives. These areas include how the amendments will facilitate sign approvals for small businesses; new standards incorporated into the Ordinance to provide objective parameters for reviewing sign applications; and how the amendment will facilitate review of signs for development projects. Facilitation of sign approval for small businesses. The updates to the sign regulations are one piece of the 2011 County Board Chairman’s Small Business Initiative, as many concerns had been raised by business owners about sign regulations and the process of obtaining signs in Arlington. The proposed ordinance revisions address many of these issues by clarifying regulations and significantly increasing the proportion of signs that may be approved administratively, meeting established goals of improving comprehension of the Ordinance; making it easier for citizens and businesses to comply with regulations as well as facilitating administration of the Ordinance; and reducing the frequency with which many common sign types require County Board consideration. Some highlights of the proposed amendments that will support small businesses are described below. New format and organization. The proposed new format and organization would make the sign regulations easier for residents and businesses to understand. The proposed amendment divides regulations into three major groupings based on type of zoning district, allowing applicants to easily browse permitted signs and associated standards for the zoning district in which the subject property is located. Groupings include: • Single-family residential districts (R districts) • Multifamily residential districts (RA14-26-, RA8-18, RA7-16, RA6-15); and • Commercial, mixed-use, industrial