Board of Appearance - Regular Meeting

Alright, I guess I'd like to call the meeting to order and I've got a statement here to read first. Welcome to the Town of Lexington Board of Appearances meeting. This board is comprised of volunteer residents and or registered architects or building professionals. We are appointed by Town Council and we serve without pay. We are a legal board operating under the Comprehensive Planning Act of the State of South Carolina. Although this meeting may not seem as formal as a hearing in court, all statements must still be true, factual, and not made in a manner to mislead us. Board of Appearance meetings are streamed live on the Town's YouTube channel and minutes are taken and maintained as permanent records with the Town. Under the Freedom of Information Act compliance, public notification of this meeting was published, posted, and mailed in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and the Town of Lexington requirements. Please understand we must make our decisions within the parameters of state law. Should we make a decision you believe is incorrect, you may appeal our decision to the Circuit Court within certain time limits provided by state law. In case that such an appeal is made, it is important that the Circuit Court know who testified at this meeting. So please sign the sign-in sheet and identify yourself before speaking. okay well uh see the first item on here is approval of our um appearance board meeting from july 14th 2026. is there a motion approved all in favor All right.

Do we have a second?

I second it.

Oh, sorry.

I have my head down. Forget about those seconds. Okay. First item of old business, I guess, is the American Leadership Academy School Gym.

American Leadership Academy is proposing a gymnasium, classroom, and sports complex expansion at 105 and 109 Innovation Place. The proposal includes construction of approximately 34,227 square foot building containing a full-size gym and additional classrooms, a stadium filled with track and bleachers, and approximately 11,196 linear feet of on-site stacking lanes. at its july 14 2026 meeting the board approved the proposed stacking lane portion of the application but denied the building component directing the applicant to revise the architectural elevations to address the board's comments that applicant has submitted revised plans for the board's consideration in response to their comments the applicant has revised the South Lake Drive right side elevation to incorporate additional architectural detailing. The revisions include extending the parapet to continue material EM2, creating greater continuity with the building design, adding a faux window to replicate the appearance of the classroom windows on the adjacent building, adding an extended prefabricated metal canopy to provide additional architectural relief and visual interest along the South Lake Drive elevation.

Thank you. Is there anybody here to speak about? Is there anything you'd like to say? That's it.

It's good to see you guys again.

Thanks. Same to you.

I'm Neil Tate, architect of record and designer of this project. As she stated, we took all your recommendations and considerations and thought they were a great benefit to the project. She mentioned, I think, just one faux window. We had 12 faux windows that actually carry that cadence from the existing buildings.

Yes. Okay. That's good. Thank you. General view, I feel like they've at least responded to our comments from the last meeting.

Yeah, I thought your comments were right on target, and so we take all your considerations and integrate them into our plans.

You guys have any critical comments?

I'm in agreement with that. I believe that they took into consideration everything that we had mentioned, the canopies, the windows, just making it look less like a side of a building and more like a kind of a focus entryway.

Yeah. I also had a site plan on the very front page so you can see what the view, where the views are. Yeah.

No problem.

Yeah.

I think I'm fine.

Let me make a motion that we approve the project as presented.

I'll second that. All in favor? All right.

Great, thank you.

Good job. There was a...

I don't know if I can speak to it. I was asked to bring up a landscape plan that was resubmitted as well.

Yes, they provided some more information. I think your main comments were in relation to the side of that building. But you did mention the landscape plan. Just making sure that that fence was screened appropriately. And I didn't have any...

Yeah, the landscape architect couldn't be here, but they said they'd incorporate all your comments.

And this is in relation to out towards South Lake, right, where they're moving the fence?

That's right.

Yeah. Yeah, I think the big point with that is just since the fence is going to be closer to the road, just to make sure that that's properly hidden.

Yeah, I think I was comfortable with what they said.

Agreed. I saw it. I don't have any. It was nice having the minutes of meeting and your agenda tied back to last time. Thank you, Jamie. And having to go back and retrace and find the drawings from last time he was here, I was able to look at the new package, which is very helpful. Good.

Yeah, she did a great job, I thought. Yeah, good job. I second that. It's nice to hear the cap and the recap and what's current.

That was helpful.

Thank you. So I grew up in the other Lexington, North Carolina. I prefer eastern style now as I've grown up.

Nice to see you guys.

You've got a great looking town here. Reminds me a lot of Woodstock, Georgia, which my buddy lives in. A lot of outdoor areas, coziness. Yeah. Yeah. Very friendly feeling. Yeah, it is. Thanks for doing the work you did. No problem. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Look forward to the expansion.

Thanks, Nick.

Thank you. Do you all have any questions?

We will.

I guess we'll get some kind of notification.

Yes. I'll send the email. Great.

Thank you. Thanks, Nick. Congratulations.

Okay, I guess we go down to item number two, which is the seven brew.

Yes. I don't believe that an applicant is here, but we did email correspondence to let them know that it was happening.

Okay.

Well, if you all want to proceed with the application, then we can. Okay. Hebrews ADA LLC has submitted a proposal to construct a new drive-through coffee shop at 5237 Sunset Boulevard. The proposed building is approximately 910 square feet and includes a dual-lane drive-through with aluminum awnings. At its July 14, 2026 meeting, the Board reviewed the proposed drive-through coffee shop and identified several architectural and site design revisions. The Board tabled the application to allow the applicant to revise the proposal and address the Board's comments. In response to the Board's comments, the applicant has revised the proposal as follows. revised the canopy design to incorporate a flat canopy profile in place of the previously proposed slope canopy, provided two color scheme options for the board's consideration. Option one includes neutral gray roof and canopy colors. Option two includes a neutral gray canopy with a royal blue roof. They revised the dumpster enclosure to include a brick enclosure with a black steel gate. They revised The landscape plan to provide additional landscaping along all street frontages and the required landscape buffer adjacent to the commercial property. The proposed LCD menu board remains on the plans. While menu boards associated with drive-thru facilities are permitted, digital signage is prohibited per the town's sign ordinance. Please note that the landscape plan has not been reviewed for full compliance with the town's landscape ordinance. The comments contained in this report are limited to the revision submitted for the board's consideration and should not be interpreted as confirmation that the landscape plan satisfies all ordinance requirements related to plant species, quantities, or other technical standards. And I believe the applicant is here now.

Oh, sure is.

It's all right. That's the number one problem in the town.

I guess I need to sign in here.

Yeah. And just tell us your name again.

Alan Mosley. I'm a P with BL Companies.

All right.

Thank you, Alan. I'm a civil engineer, but I can hopefully answer any architectural stuff. All right.

Sure. The only question I really had was I was looking at the photographs um of the rendering and then the actual drawing of the rendering and you know i see like number one says neutral gray roof and canopy colors i look at the this rendering jessica and right here and i i see a brown color scheme not a gray color scheme versus the drawings are definitely gray right so which is it which is accurate. I'm just curious. I like, personally, I like the warmer tone. It almost looks like the roof. It looks more like a bronze.

I was told you put two options in there. Yes.

There's a blue option and then there's... You're different, I guess.

You see how there's a difference in color.

It might just be the way it prints.

But Larry, I think as long as we're putting in the gray-brown family, I was comfortable with it. I would not like the blue family.

Right, yeah, exactly.

So option one was a better option than option two.

Correct. I'm in agreement there. If we're given the choice, option one, definitely.

the proposed LCD menu board. I don't think I object to it, but I'm making sure I'm not saying something that I shouldn't say. I see it on the drawing. I think I see it up there. I don't understand that either. I don't know if we should have an objection.

No, I'm just clarifying for the record that menu boards are allowed. The location of that menu board is fine. It cannot be digital. for our sign ordinance. We do not allow electronic messaging or digital signage in the town of Lexington. And so because the notes call out on number four, that is an LCD screen, I just want for future reference that while menu boards are allowed with this type of land use, it cannot be digital. So I just wanna be consistent with that message so that whenever, or if you all approve something, With no digital signage. I just don't want anyone to point back and say, well, the board said.

Thank you, ma'am. I'll have to check. Well, I mean, we can go ahead.

And that can be addressed at the sign review. But I'd just like to, because it's shown on the plans that way, I always like to make sure to make that call out if there's something that doesn't meet another ordinance.

All right. i definitely agree with the the view that option one is our better one of the two and i think the building is they've done a good job good response to it also

Yeah, definitely think the flat canopy is a lot less like imposing than the slope canopies last time. And it looks like the landscaping address like the gaps in it that we had spoke about last time. I know before it was mentioned that maybe there were some easements there, but assuming that the landscaping can go in those places, I definitely like it better where it's landscaped all the way around.

Yeah. Okay. Any other comments? All right. Well, I'd like to go ahead and make a motion that we approve it as submitted with option number one.

With the clarification that the menu board comply with down zoning, my friendly amendment.

Yes, thank you.

With that friendly amendment, I second that.

All in favor? Those unanimous. All right. Okay.

Well, that's... We were just in time. Thank you.

Two hours of driving. Sorry.

It would be a lot worse if we told you no for two hours. Okay. So...

I guess this is a... All right. Are we done yet? Yes. Okay. I have a question if you adjourn.

Are you going to... Yeah.

Okay.

So is that your motion to adjourn?

Motion to adjourn, yes, sir.

Go ahead and say it. There you go.

All in favor? All right. We're done.