Board approves monument sign listing two off-site businesses at 1462 West Oaks Crossland Drive

The Board of Zoning Appeals on July 28, 2025, approved BCA 2025-025, a development standards variance permitting a monument sign at 1462 West Oaks Crossland Drive that will advertise up to two off-site businesses, and attached a single condition that any entity advertising on the monument sign be prohibited from installing additional ground signs on their corresponding parcels. The motion to approve, made by Mister King and seconded by Mister Millhorn, passed 5-0.

The variance covers a monument sign proposed for the east corner of the shopping center at the corner of Molina Drive and Stone Crossing Road. Tom Vander Leguerrein, attorney with Baywood Law Firm, told the board he represents the property owner and said the proposed sign will contain three panels for Brewburger, Stone Creek and the Bay Horse Inn and measures about 10 feet by 5 feet. Vander Leguerrein said consolidating tenant advertising on a single monument sign would reduce what he called "sign pollution" and promote cooperation among neighboring businesses.

Staff provided a favorable recommendation and supported approval with the single condition recorded in the staff report. The condition, which the board adopted, bars any business shown on the monument sign from installing additional ground signs on its own parcel. The board first voted to admit all evidence into the record, including the petitioner’s application, staff report, maps, photographs and certified copies of the Unified Development Ordinance and the Comprehensive Plan.

Board members asked several practical questions before voting, focused on sight lines and traffic safety. Commenters and board members raised concerns about how close the sign would sit to Stone Crossing and whether it could block motorists' views when vehicles were entering or exiting the retail drive. A staff member told the board those safety and visibility issues would be checked during the plan-review process and that the sign must be located outside the public-vision triangle.

The petitioner said the monument sign would be placed where a red line shown on the plans indicated, near the east corner of the site, and that other on-building signage already exists for some tenants. The applicant noted the Bay Horse Inn (the barn) is adjacent to the north and that Amanda Cunningham previously owned the barn property before a sale to Cunningham Real Estate Group was recorded in materials submitted to the board.

The board recorded a motion directing corporation counsel to prepare final adoption language for the board’s action. The approval means the petitioner may proceed to plan review with the understanding that staff will confirm compliance with sight-line and placement standards and that the approved condition will be enforced.

Less critical details: the petitioner’s representative gave his office address as 225 South Emerson, Suite 181, Greenwood, Indiana; the staff report contained one commitment reflecting the ground-sign prohibition; and admitted materials included the Unified Development Ordinance and the Comprehensive Plan.