Historic Review Board

MINUTES TOWN OF FORT MILL HISTORIC REVIEW BOARD May 9th, 2023 112 Confederate Street 4:30 PM Present: Megan Brinton, Scott Couchenour, Hynek Lettang, Jessica Scarlett, Joanne Walker, Planning Director Penelope Karagounis, Senior Planner Alex Moore Absent: David Booth, Elizabeth Leventis Guests: Leah Maul, Alicia Smith CALL TO ORDER Vice chairwoman Megan Brinton called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON & VICE CHAIRPERSON Jessica Scarlett made a motion to elect Megan Brinton as chairwoman of the Historic Review Board (HRB). Scott Couchenour seconded the motion. By a vote of 5-0, the HRB elected Megan Brinton as chairwoman for the remainder of 2023. Scott Couchenour made a motion to elect David Booth as vice chairman of the HRB. Megan Brinton seconded the motion. By a vote of 5-0, the HRB elected David Booth as vice chairman for the remainder of 2023. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairwoman Megan Brinton entertained a motion to approve the minutes from the April 11th, 2023, HRB meeting. Jessica Scarlett made a motion to approve the minutes. Scott Couchenour seconded the motion. Then, by a vote of 5-0, the minutes for the April 11th, 2023, meeting were approved. NEW BUSINESS 1. Request for Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) The first item on the agenda included a request for a certificate of appropriateness (COA) submitted by Caring Seasons Health, LLC to place a wall sign at 100 Main Street. Senior Planner Alex Moore gave a brief overview of the application and associated materials for this COA request. He noted that the proposed wall sign would be placed on the southwestern facing wall of 100 Main Street, which overlooks Academy Street and the railroad tracks. He stated that Caring Seasons Health has an office within the building at 100 Main Street in Suite 204. Moore stated that the proposed wall sign consists of 50 square feet and that the wall upon which it is to be placed consists of approximately 1,800 square feet. Thus, the sign would comprise approximately 2.7% of the wall to which it would be attached. The Fort Mill Zoning Ordinance indicates that a wall sign cannot exceed an area of 15% of the wall to which it is affixed. Thus, this sign as proposed meets the town’s zoning requirement for wall signs. Moore then indicated that the sign as designed met the historic district guidelines and that staff also believed that the Secretary of Interior’s Standards would be achieved with this wall sign. Based on these findings Moore then stated that staff recommends that this application for a COA be approved as submitted. He then stated that Leah Maul with Caring Seasons Health, LLC was in attendance if she wished to speak or if the HRB had any questions for her. Ms. Maul stated that she was excited to be downtown and that Caring Seasons Health, LLC is a nonprofit hospice organization. She indicated that the proposed wall sign was modeled somewhat on the Emmet’s Social Table wall sign except that it was designed with a more whitewashed look. This would allow the building wall to have a cohesive appearance. Jessica Scarlett asked what the sign was comprised of. Ms. Maul indicated that the sign would be aluminum composite, but designed to look like wood, and that it would weigh approximately 20 pounds. The sign would be lighted via external uplighting. Hynek Lettang then asked how many of the visible windows on the southwestern elevation of this building that the Caring Seasons Health suite would include. Ms. Maul replied that the top center window and the top window on the far right would be included within their suite, along with two additional windows around the corner on the southeastern building elevation. Mr. Lettang then asked what consideration would be undertaken if another building tenant wished to place wall signage on the southwestern facing building wall. Senior Planner Moore indicated that the current sign as proposed consisted of 2.7% of the wall area. If additional tenants wished to place signage on this wall, they must not exceed a total of 15% of the wall area, of which 2.7% would already be allocated to Caring Seasons Health. It would be up to town staff to keep track of this allocation. Ms. Maul indicated that the property owner had approved her proposed sign and that the other tenants currently have wall signage located either on the front of the building, facing Main Street, or at the second-floor entrance off Confederate Street. Ms. Scarlett then made a motion to approve the wall sign as submitted. Mr. Lettang seconded the motion. Then, by a vote of 5-0, the HRB granted the COA for the proposed wall sign as submitted. 2. Request for Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) The second item on the agenda included a request for a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) submitted by Alicia Smith, owner of Insley Photography located at 105 Clebourne Street. Senior Planner Alex Moore gave a brief overview of the application and associated materials for this COA request. He stated that the specific requests include window signage, projecting signage, wall signage, along with outdoor planters and a bench. Moore also noted that Ms. Smith intended to paint a portion of the northwestern facing, exterior wall. However, the area proposed to be painted would receive the same color of paint as currently exhibited on this wall. Thus, this would not require HRB approval. Moore presented the following staff recommendations for this case: 1. Window Signage: Staff recommends that the window signage be approved as submitted. 2. Projecting Signage: Staff recommends that the projecting sign be approved with the condition that the sign be matte black in color with white or gold lettering. Additionally, at the time of application for zoning & building permit review, the applicant shall submit scaled drawings indicating that all town dimensional requirements are met. 3. Wall Signage: Staff recommends that the wall sign be approved with the condition that the sign be comprised of gold lettering as shown within the COA application. Additionally, at the time of application for zoning & building permit review, the applicant shall submit scaled drawings indicating that all town dimensional requirements are met. 4. Outdoor Planter & Bench: These site furnishings are appropriate as submitted. Thus, staff recommends that they be approved in principle. However, the planter and bench shall not be placed until such time the applicant provides verification that the sidewalk clearance width of four feet is met. Moore indicated that staff believed the Secretary of Interior’s standards would be met with these recommendations. There was then discussion between staff and the HRB regarding the sidewalk and the placement of the proposed bench and planters, including the parameters that may be required by SCDOT. Moore indicated that staff would ensure that all town and SCDOT requirements were met prior to issuance of zoning approval for the bench and planter. Discussion then turned to the other requested items as presented. Senior Planner Moore enumerated these to include the proposed window signage, the projecting sign, and the wall signage. Chairwoman Brinton asked if there were any questions from the board about these. Jessica Scarlett asked if the proposed wall sign included individually mounted letters. Ms. Smith indicated that she believed the sign could be done as individually mounted letters or as a single piece sign. Ms. Scarlett noted that the board did have previous concern about the impact to brick in the historic district via the implementation of signage which required drilling into the brick. Ms. Smith stated that if the board had concern about this then she could have the sign constructed as a single piece. Scott Couchenour then made a motion on the requested items as follows: • For the proposed window signage, the motion included approval as submitted. • For the proposed projecting sign, the motion included approval with the condition that the sign be matte black in color with white or gold lettering and that at the time of application for zoning & building permit review, the applicant shall submit scaled drawings indicating that all town dimensional requirements are met. • For the proposed wall sign, the motion included approval as is as long as the pins are placed into the mortar rather than into the brick with the understanding that if Ms. Smith decides to redesign the sign she will come back to the board for review. • For the proposed bench and planter, the motion included denial of these items. Joanne Walker suggested that the motion might include two planters in place of the bench. Mr. Couchenour accepted this as an amendment to his motion, provided all town requirements were met. Hynek Lettang proposed an amendment to the motion to not allow individual letters for the wall sign due to the large number of drill holes that would be required. He noted that the applicant had indicated that she was amenable to doing a single piece sign to include a backing board, which would require far fewer drill holes. Mr. Couchenour said he would be happy to accept this amendment to his motion. After some discussion, Senior Planner Moore asked if Mr. Couchenour could restate the motion based on the proposed amendments. Mr. Couchenour restated the motion as follows: • For the proposed window signage, the motion included approval as submitted. • For the proposed projecting sign, the motion included approval with the condition that the sign be matte black in color with white or gold lettering and that at the time of application for zoning & building permit review, the applicant shall submit scaled drawings indicating that all town dimensional requirements are met. • For the proposed wall sign, the motion included the requirement that the sign be reviewed by the HRB upon the applicant determining the final design. There will be no additional application fee for this review. • For the proposed bench and planters, the motion included the allowance of two planters along the sidewalk. Ms. Scarlett seconded the motion. Then, by a vote of 5-0, the HRB granted the COA for the items as enumerated within the motion. There being no further business, Chairwoman Brinton adjourned the meeting at 5:09 PM. Respectfully submitted, Alex J. Moore, AICP Senior Planner May 23rd, 2023