HomeMy WebLinkAboutVA200300001 Review Comments 2003-04-25 (2) 1451)3
VA-2003-0001 Rehearing
Martha Jefferson Hospital Foundation
Variance Justification:
Section 34.2 of the Albemarle County Zoning Ordinance provides that the Board of
Zoning Appeals (the"Board") may authorize a variance in certain circumstances. This
includes such circumstances where the"property owner can show that ... by reason of
exceptional topographic conditions or other extraordinary situation or condition of such
piece of property, or of the use or development of property immediately adjacent thereto,
the strict application of the terms of this ordinance would effectively prohibit or
unreasonably restrict the use of the property..." (emphasis added)
1). That the strict application of this ordinance would produce undue hardship.
Section 4.15.13 of the Zoning Ordinance limits the height of wall signs to 30 feet
in the Planned Development-Mixed Commercial district. The strict application of this
section of the Ordinance would produce an undue hardship on the Martha Jefferson
Hospital Foundation because it prevents the hospital from providing the most reasonably
safe and effective signage at the future Outpatient Care Center(the"OCC")under the
circumstances, results in signage that is less safe for its patients and for the public as a
whole, and results in a direct conflict with the public's interest in protecting the County's
designated Entrance Corridors as articulated in the Zoning Ordinance.
By serving as a"wayfinder" for a health care use (including an urgent care
facility), the OCC sign must have a heightened level of effectiveness to adequately serve
the public. This is particularly important for serving the needs of patients traveling to the
OCC from outside the area who will be unfamiliar with the area and the development.
The hospital has requested a sign at a height of 41 feet above ground level. At this
height,the signage would result in a higher level of public safety since it would be visible
to passing motorists slightly sooner than it would be at either 30 feet, the maximum
height permitted by the Ordinance, or at 33 feet, 4 inches, the height permitted by the
previously approved variance. In addition, because it would be located in a more
appropriate location on the building, it will reduce the"anticipation time"of motorists,
which allows the hospital, as a provider of urgent health care, to provide the most safe
signage reasonable under the circumstances, and thus meet its duty to its patients and the
public as a whole.
Additional evidence supporting the creation of the hardship is contained in the Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices (the "MUTCD")published by the Federal Highway
Administration, which contains requirements and recommendations for safe and effective
signs. The hospital's sign consultants designed the proposed OCC sign and its location
on the building using the criteria contained in the MUTCD. The MUTCD provides that
the basic requirements for a highway sign are that"it be legible for those for whom it is
intended, and that it be understood in time to permit a proper response. This means high
visibility, lettering or symbols of adequate size, and a short legend for quick
comprehension of a driver approaching a sign at high speed. Simplicity and uniformity
in design,position, and application are important."
At its closest point, the OCC is 1,300 feet from Route 250, a designated Entrance
Corridor. The speed limit along this portion of Route 250 is 45 miles per hour, there are
several travel lanes and turn lanes in each direction, and numerous stoplights and median
breaks with vehicles crossing traffic in both directions. In addition, the elevation of
Route 250 varies significantly in the nearby vicinity, for patients approaching the OCC
from the west will crest a steep hill (Pantops Mountain), and then have a relatively short
distance in which to locate the facility and the appropriate turn. The Pantops Mountain
area of the County is a designated development area under the Comprehensive Plan and
is designated for high-density development. The area is already heavily developed and
heavily traveled, which will only increase in the coming years as this development
continues. In addition, the office park where the OCC is located is still developing, and
contains numerous other non-medical uses. One such use is a planned four-story hotel
that will be sited directly along Route 250,between Route 250 and the OCC. The hotel's
location will add to the challenge of ensuring that the OCC sign has a heightened level of
effectiveness, for a motorist will have to look beyond the hotel for the OCC sign, and the
hotel could distract the eye of the motorist searching for the OCC,particularly given the
other factors at work, such as the traffic. Given that the OCC will be located among this
hotel and these other buildings, the hospital has a duty to its patients and the public as a
whole to reasonably maximize the ability of members of the public who are traveling to
the OCC to quickly distinguish it among the other office buildings. Again, this is
particularly important for motorists who are unfamiliar with the area.
Thus, members of the public will be traveling along Route 250 at relatively high speeds,
encountering significant traffic, navigating shifting elevations and multiple lanes of
traffic, and looking for the building that is set far from the road and sited among other tall
buildings. Patients must rely on the OCC signage to help them find the OCC among the
other buildings in the area generally, and within the office park specifically, as quickly
and safely as possible. The sooner a driver can locate a sign, the more time he or she has
to react,which increases one's ability to safely change lanes, locate the entrance to the
office park, and execute the required turn. In addition,because the medical uses at the
OCC include an urgent care center and a surgery center, many of the individuals
attempting to find the OCC will be traveling under stress. Furthermore, since a
significant number of patients visiting the OCC will be senior citizens,who often have
challenges with their vision and may also have slower driving reflexes, the heightened
level of visibility of the sign is necessary to achieve the MUTCD goal of a sign that is
"legible for those for whom it is intended." Thus,the signage does not merely have to be
particularly effectively for the average motorist seeking the OCC, it must to be
exceptionally visible and effective to be legible for a senior citizen traveling under stress.
The combination of these factors alone constitutes an extraordinary circumstance
affecting this property and which would result in a hardship if the Ordinance were strictly
enforced.
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However, there are additional characteristics of the property which also factor into the
creation of the hardship. First,because the property does not front on Route 250, it does
not qualify for a sign along Route 250, so the importance of the building sign in serving
as a"wayfinder" for the health care use is particularly important under the circumstances.
Second, at its closest point,the building is 1,300 feet from Route 250, a great distance
away. Third, the property is located in one of the most heavily regulated areas of the
County: along two designated Entrance Corridors (Route 250 and Interstate 64) and in
the viewshed of Monticello. As such, the design of the building on the property and the
aesthetic characteristics are particularly important, and the hospital must strictly comply
with the ARB guidelines and policies.
The combination of all of these conditions of the property results in a extraordinary
situation or condition of the property, such that it is extremely important that the signage
have a heightened level of effectiveness,which requires that it be visible as quickly as
reasonably possible, yet factors make it extremely challenging to make the signage so
effective under the circumstances. In addition, the development of the adjacent property
as a high-density office park further exacerbates the need for effective signage for the
property. The OCC will be a medical facility sited among a group of office buildings,
and it is important that motorists be able to locate the OCC among the adjacent office
buildings as quickly as possible. Thus, for each of these reasons, a strict application of
the Ordinance will create a hardship, because the hospital would not be able to meet its
duty to the public to provide such appropriately visible and effective signage with the
limitations on the height of the sign.
Although the difference between the requested height of the sign and the previously
approved variance may not appear to be significant enough to impact the ability of
motorists to safety locate the facility,when the height difference is considered in light of
the combination of conditions of the property, the result is an extraordinary situation.
The sooner one can locate the sign the better, and when considered in light of the speeds
traveled, and further, given the distance of the property from Route 250, the variation in
the elevation of the roadbed (cresting the top of Pantops Mountain), and the requirement
to navigate the increasingly heavy traffic,multiple travel lanes, and traffic signals, it is
clear that every foot of height in the signage becomes more important. This is
particularly important for individuals who are not familiar with the area, and for elderly
individuals. The hospital has a duty to provide signage to its patients and to the public as
a whole that is as reasonably effective as possible, and unnecessary height restrictions
which prevent the hospital from achieving that goal create a significant hardship.
Furthermore, the MUTCD also provides that one of the aspects of a successful
identification signage system is a high"anticipatory value"—improving the ability of a
motorist to anticipate the signs in the surrounding environment. Positioning a sign high
on a building helps increase that anticipation time. To a certain degree, driver
anticipation is improved when signage elements are placed in a typical location at or near
the upper section of the building. In addition,by associating the typical location of the
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sign at the upper section of the building, the driver's intuitive awareness is maximized,
which increases anticipation times, and thus improves safety.
As noted above, the MUTCD also provides that"simplicity and uniformity in design,
position, and application are important"to providing safe and effective signage. In
addition to the importance of the height of the sign on the OCC building, the position of
the sign relative to other architectural features of the building is also important for
maximizing the safety impact of the sign to the most reasonable extent possible. At the
proposed height of 41 feet,the sign is aligned with the top row of windows and the brick
banding on the building, and achieves the goal of such uniformity of position. By
contrast, at the approved height of 33 feet, 4 inches, the sign is awkwardly positioned
between the two rows of windows and out of alignment with the brick bands. This
awkward position makes it more difficult to locate, for it creates a level of clutter that is
significant when considered in light of all of the unique characteristics of this property.
The result is a less than uniform position on the building,which negatively impacts the
sign's effectiveness for"wayfinding"by decreasing anticipation times and thus safety,
which prevents the hospital from providing the most reasonably effective signage to its
patients and the public as a whole.
In addition to the fact that the strict application of the Ordinance would create a hardship
on the use of the property in limiting the effectiveness of the sign for quickly and safely
allowing the OCC patients to identify the building, the strict application of the Ordinance
also is directly in conflict with the public's interest in protecting the County's designated
Entrance Corridors.
Section 30.6.1 of the Ordinance provides that the purpose and intent of the Entrance
Corridor Overlay District is to "implement the comprehensive plan goal of protecting the
county's natural, scenic and historic, architectural and cultural resources including the
preservation of natural and scenic resources as the same may serve this purpose; to ensure
a quality of development compatible with these resources through architectural control of
development...to protect and enhance the county's attractiveness to tourists and other
visitors, to sustain and enhance the economic benefits accruing to the county from
tourism, to support and stimulate complimentary development appropriate to the
prominence afforded properties deemed to be of historic, architectural or cultural
significance, all of the foregoing being deemed to advance and promote the public health,
safety and welfare of the citizens of the county and visitors thereto." As such,the County
has clearly articulated its interest, and that of the public as a whole, in protecting the
Entrance Corridor Overlay District,by"ensuring a quality of development compatible
with these resources,"which would include such historic resources as Monticello. The
hospital worked closely with the Architectural Review Board (the"ARB") staff
throughout the permitting process to ensure that the building design complies with the
ARB's published guidelines and criteria, and thus the County's stated goal of protecting
the Entrance Corridor and nearby historic resources.
Although the ARB did eventually approve the sign at the location established by the
previously approved variance, it did so with great reluctance and regret. The ARB made
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clear that the interests of the County, and the public as a whole, would be better served by
the location of the sign at the 41-foot location. As such,by strictly applying the
Ordinance to limit the sign height to 30 feet, or by granting only a limited variance to
permit the location at 33 feet,4 inches, an undue hardship is created on the property in
that it cannot fully comply with the Zoning Ordinance's goal of ensuring a quality of
development compatible with the area's resources.
For all of these reasons, the strict application of the Ordinance limiting the height of the
sign to 30 feet, and the granting of a limited variance,both create a hardship on the
property, in that the hospital cannot fully meet its duty to its patients and the public by
providing signage that has a heightened level of effectiveness and further because it
creates a direct conflict between the clearly-articulated public interest in protecting the
designated Entrance Corridors.
2). That such hardship is not shared generally by other properties in the same zoning
district and the same vicinity.
The hardship created by the strict application of the Zoning Ordinance and by the limited
variance previously approved is not shared generally by other properties in the same
zoning district and the same vicinity. The hardship created is a result of the extraordinary
situation and condition of the property that cause it to be vitally important that its signage
be as effective as reasonably possible under the circumstances but also makes it difficult
to provide the appropriately effective signage given the restrictions of the Zoning
Ordinance. As a health care provider(particularly as an urgent care provider), the
hospital has a duty to its patients and the public as a whole to provide signage for the
health care facility that has a heightened level of effectiveness. However,the
combination of factors unique to the property, when coupled with this public duty,
creates an extraordinary situation that is unique to this property and not shared generally
by other properties in the same zoning district. The combination of the following factors
are unique to this property: its location of over 1,300 feet from the roadway, its location
within a larger developing office park with very different uses, the use of the property for
an urgent care facility, the need for visitors to the property to quickly and safely locate it
among other buildings within the office park while traveling at relatively high speeds, the
absence of signage directly on Route 250, and the property's location along two Entrance
Corridors and within the Monticello viewshed, among others. Other properties in the
same zoning district and the vicinity do not share these characteristics. Therefore, the
hardship created by this extraordinary situation is not shared generally by other properties
and can only be remedied by the granting of a variance from the height restrictions.
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3). That the authorization of such variance will not be of substantial detriment to
adjacent property and that the character of the district will not be changed by the granting
of the variance.
The authorization of such variance will not be of substantial detriment to adjacent
property,nor will the character of the district be changed by the granting of the variance.
Rather,by enabling visitors to the OCC to more quickly and safely find the building,
granting the variance to allow the higher sign will benefit adjacent properties by
improving the safety of the area as a whole. In addition, granting the variance at the
requested height will enable the property to fully comply with the ARB regulations and
design guidelines, which further enhances adjacent properties. Furthermore, the
proposed signage is in keeping with the character of the district and the adjacent property,
and is smaller in overall size than is permitted by the Zoning Ordinance. Therefore, the
authorization of such variance will not be of substantial detriment to adjacent property,
nor will the character of the district be changed by the granting of the variance.
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