Board of Zoning Appeals Public Hearing - Jun 25, 2026

meeting

Loudoun County Board Committees and Advisory Boards 1h 33m 8 agenda items transcribed 1 day ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What are the proposed changes to the sports dome signage and why were they made?

Unknown 8:19

The signs proposed for the sides of the sports dome also have text added to them that now reads Home of the Washington Commanders. This is the detail of sign P2 for the sides of the dome. Just to summarize, the three changes to the sign plan, the removal of the sign on the top of the sports dome facility, the reduction in size of the remaining four signs proposed for the sports dome, and the addition of the commander's logo and branding to the signs on the dome. I'm gonna take a moment now to address a recent development. I'm gonna let the applicant address this in more detail. But earlier this month, it was brought to the attention of staff that at some time after the May BZA meeting, a sign had been installed on the sports dome structure.

Unknown 9:12

The photo you see on the screen there was taken by county staff on June 15th, 2026. That sign is a wall sign on the eastern end of the sports dome. That's the end of the structure that faces the outdoor practice fields. So this is sign P1. There apparently was just the one that was installed. And as I said, I'm gonna let the applicant address exactly what happened here. But from the perspective of zoning staff, while this obviously isn't a positive development at this stage in the process, it doesn't change anything as far as what is being proposed with this signed development plan. And it doesn't impact whether or not this request meets the criteria for approval. all of the existing signs on the subject property were installed without the required county approvals.

Unknown 10:03

All of the signs included in this sign development plan will need to get permits if it is approved by the board. And if this sign plan is not approved, any existing signs on the property that do not have or cannot get permits would need to be removed. At some point, enforcement action would be initiated to affect that. In order to approve a signed development plan, the Board of Zoning Appeals must make all the findings as specified in section 101103 of the Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance. These findings are listed on attachment three to your staff report. And that concludes staff's presentation. I'm available to answer any questions that the board may have. Thanks very much. Does anyone have a question?

Unknown 10:49

Mr. Gray? Just a couple of things I'd like And the first is billboards. Will you confirm for me what the county's rules are with regard to billboards? We don't call out billboards specifically in the zoning ordinance. I think billboards would probably fall under the category of a sign that is directing attention to a use that is located on a property other than that which the sign is located. which is a prohibited sign. I'm looking at it from a slightly different perspective is that generally a billboard is an advertisement for an activity on a background that may or may not be owned by the advertiser. In other words, if I own a billboard company and I basically place a billboard for lease, someone can come in and purchase that billboard, if you will, the lease on that billboard, and generally put up whatever they want to put up in terms of advertising.

Unknown 12:20

Is that a reasonable I think that's the definition of billboard. I don't think it would be permitted in this county. That's where I'm going. Essentially, the way that Loudoun County has developed is that we have never allowed billboards, or if we did, we withdrew that permission for billboards. Our previous sign ordinance was such that it was almost I mean, there were so many restrictions that it made it very difficult in order to place advertisements onsite or offsite. And that led to the current sign ordinance, which is a little bit more interactive, if you will, but yet has limits. I guess going back to the conversation that we had at the last meeting when the question was if we permit something like this, does that mean that Schmuckatella who owns a barn someplace could rent out his or her barn space for advertising without any requirement?

Unknown 13:43

or any restrictions under the current signed ordinance. I don't think that's the case.