When Is a Facade a Rooftop Sign?

What is a façade? That question was at the heart of a recent dispute between Charlotte and a car dealership over the legality of a rooftop sign. In a decision Nov. 15, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled against the city, finding it had used an “unreasonable” definition of the word in its order requiring removal of the sign.

Charlotte’s sign ordinance prohibits rooftop signs. Rooftop signs erected before Feb. 1, 1988 may, however, remain in place until there are “[s]tructural or nonstructural alterations excluding routine maintenance and repair of the facade of the principal building that exceed 50% of the façade’s area”, at which point the sign must come down.

Town & Country Ford is a car dealership that has operated on the same site in east Charlotte for many years. It has had a sign, with the dealership’s name, on top of a large canopy (40 feet deep and 8 feet high) that runs the length of the front of the building, since the late 1970s.

In early 2003, Town & Country Ford remodeled its exterior and interior. After the work was completed, a city inspector cited the dealership for violating the sign ordinance.

The city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment upheld the violation. It stated that a façade is a “a face of a building; especially, such a face that is given distinguishing treatment. The face or front part of anything[;] especially, an artificial or false front.” In Town & Country Ford’s case, the board held that the front of the canopy was the façade and that because more than half of it had been modified during the remodeling, the sign had to come down.

Town & Country Ford then appealed, first to Superior Court, and then to the Court of Appeals.

The appellate court did not agree with the board’s ruling. Specifically, it found that board had misdefined “façade.”

The full definition of “façade” contained in the American Heritage Dictionary, which the zoning board referenced, is:

1. Architecture. A face of a building; especially, such a face that is given distinguishing treatment: “Pink classical facades peeled off and showed the mud beneath” (Graham Greene). 2. The face or front part of anything; especially, an artificial or false front: “Of most famous people we know only the imposing façade” (Edith Hamilton).

“Of the two definitions set out in the American Heritage, the Board bypassed the first, which applies to architecture, in favor of the second,” Judge Martha Geer wrote for the court.

“Based upon the second definition, the Board concluded that the front of T&C’s canopy was an ‘artificial or false front’ and was, therefore, the facade of the entire building. The first definition relating to architecture was, however, more applicable to a decision regarding what portion of a building constitutes its façade…

“By contrast, the second definition, which was relied upon by the Board in reaching its decision, defines facade more generally as the ‘face or front part of anything.’ Unlike the first definition, it does not specifically relate to buildings or architecture. Indeed, the corresponding explanatory sentence — omitted by the Board — suggests that using the term to designate an ‘artificial or false front,’ critical language for the Board’s decision, is inapposite in the building or architectural context… The second more generally applicable definition of ‘façade’ frequently is used in a metaphorical, rather than physical, sense. The Board’s reliance on the second definition rather than the architectural definition was unreasonable.”

The appeals court left it to the Zoning Board of Adjustment to craft new standards using the appropriate definition of the word. The board can then determine whether Town & Country’s sign can stay based upon legally correct definitions.

The case is MMR Holdings, LLC v. City of Charlotte, (04-1618).