Churches in York County could soon have electronic signs with messages that alternate as frequently as every eight seconds.
The York County Board of Supervisors will consider whether to amend the York County Zoning Ordinance to allow the frequent changes. The signs are allowed under current rules, but their messages may only change once every 24 hours. Their vote will come after the York County Planning Commission and County Administrator James McReynolds both recommended they approve the measure.
The Planning Commission voted 3-2 in December to recommend the supervisors approve the change. Commissioner Mark Suiter took issue with the signs, saying to allow them at churches would start a slippery slope — he asked why gas stations, restaurants and drug stores should not be allowed to have signs with changing messages if churches are. He also said he feels the signs are not appropriate for residential areas.
The signs with the frequently changing messages are already allowed at shopping centers. According to a memorandum from McReynolds, the centers may have them because their tenants, which often cannot erect freestanding signs, benefit from having a message board they can use. The Kiln Creek Shopping Center on George Washington Memorial Highway (Route 17) remains the only shopping center the county to use the signs.
The commissioners discussed how the signs could affect traffic safety at their December meeting. Zoning Administrator J. Mark Carter told the commission the issue was studied in 2009 when the owner of the Kiln Creek Shopping Center sought permission to use a sign with a changing message. The county originally considered a 15-minute delay between messages, but that was reduced to eight seconds after staff reviewed traffic studies. Regulations from the Virginia Department of Transportation allow signs with messages that change as often as every four seconds.
The amendment would also require churches to dim their signs at night. That change came after a county citizen emailed a letter prior to the Planning Commission meeting expressing concern about the brightness of the signs.
Should the supervisors change the ordinance, churches in the Tourist Corridor Management Overlay area would be prohibited from having them. In York County, those areas are George Washington Memorial Highway (Route 17) from Cook Road north, Richmond Road, Bypass Road, Pocahontas Trail, Route 132, Merrimac Trail west of Queens Creek, Goosley Road east of Route 17, Cook Road, the Colonial Parkway, Second Street from Merrimac Trail to the Williamsburg line, Route 199, Interstate 64 and any frontage road along I-64.
The supervisors will consider the amendment at 6 p.m. Tuesday at York Hall. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled at the meeting.
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