Staunton City Council could rule on the McDonough Toyota sign tonight. Here’s what we know.
STAUNTON — Staunton City Council will provide plenty of opportunity for public feedback Thursday evening as it is set to hold a pair of public hearings during their regular meeting, including the latest fallout from the McDonough Toyota lighted sign appeal.
The highlight of the public hearings is one on a set of entrance corridor district amendments that would allow for a special set of rules for car dealerships as it pertains to lighting, landscaping, and parking specifications.
Those amendments were the result of the appeal from McDonough Toyota to allow their entrance portal sign to be illuminated despite violating current entrance corridor regulations, and the resolution to that appeal could swiftly follow the decision on the amendments at Thursday’s meeting.
The amendments have already been seen by the planning commission, who voted unanimously to deny recommending the amendments to council.
The planning commission had a plethora of concerns about the amendments, ranging from singling out a single type of business to the outreach from the community who have by-and-large been against the changes.
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There were also significant concerns raised by the commission about the changes to the parking surface and landscaping requirements around dealerships, with specific concerns raised about potential run-off by changing landscaping requirements, as well as the fact that the city is currently overhauling their entrance corridor overlay district guidelines. Those guidelines are set to be ready for discussion near the end of the summer
The planning commission themselves received over 20 emails from concerned residents prior to its last meeting, and no speaker from the public at the meeting was in favor of the amendments.
While city staff has maintained that the amendments were not for a single business, senior planner Rodney Rhodes said at the last planning commission meeting that there has not been comments from dealerships in the entrance corridors for the amendments. Per city planner Tim Hartless, there are 15 businesses that could be considered dealerships.
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Council can either follow the planning commission’s guidance and deny the ordinance for the amendments or pass all of the amendments as they currently stand. However, there is a motion in the meeting notes to allow for just the internal illumination aspects of the amendments to be passed.
Depending on its decision, council is also set to rule on the McDonough Toyota entrance portal sign appeal. The planning commission had previously denied the dealership’s application to light their sign.
Council will also be holding a public hearing on the construction of a new set of bathrooms at Gypsy Hill Park, a project that city staff has seen no issue with.
The regular business meeting is set to take place at 7:30 p.m. at city hall, where the council will hear from the public and consider adopting the new amendments to the area.
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—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton City Council set for entrance corridor amendments public hearing
