Arlington Board Asked to Go With the Glow

[Erik Sine]

Arlington Board Asked to Go With the Glow

Request for Flashy Sign Puts Officials on the Spot

By Kirstin Downey

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, December 13, 2007; Page VA03

Harshly glaring or softly glowing?

That is the question Arlington County Board members were forced to ask themselves about a novel proposal from the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade organization whose 2,200 members are the companies that sell personal computers, hand-held communications devices and electronic toys, such as Microsoft, Apple Computer and Sony Electronics.

Three decades ago, many communities, including Arlington, enacted rules to restrict businesses from erecting monster billboards and massive neon signs to advertise their wares. Small, discreet signs became the calling card that separated elite cities from the less-discerning ones. Bright lights were shunted off to less-affluent areas dominated by fast-food eateries and discount retail stores.

Recently, however, businesses have been asking Arlington County for permission to install eye-catching electric signs, some of them embedded into the buildings as architectural elements.

The Sheraton National Hotel at Columbia Pike and Washington Boulevard in Crystal City wanted more lights. So did the Waterview, a new office, retail and hotel complex in Rosslyn. The Corporate Executive Board, a large business moving to Arlington, wanted its entire penthouse floor lighted, including some blinking lights. In each case, county officials permitted the businesses to have some of what they wanted but imposed restrictions on the level of illumination, hours of operation or square footage of the signs as outlined by county code.

But how much is too much?

The five-member Arlington County Board is eager to accommodate new businesses, especially as the federal base realignment and closure plan removes thousands of jobs from Crystal City. But the board is also mindful of the strong opposition to the six-foot-tall letters on the building occupied by BAE, a defense contractor, which many people find too bright.

The board confronted the issue in a grueling late-night session last month. More than five dozen employees of the Consumer Electronics Association showed up unexpectedly to add their voices to their employer's request to be permitted to install an elaborate illumination and signage system at the Crystal City headquarters it purchased last year.

The association sought a use permit for a rooftop sign on the building's east facade, a monument logo on the southwest corner of the site, a rooftop sign along the west elevation, nine-foot-tall illuminated rooftop band lights along the three sides of the exterior and 28 moving LEDs distributed along the sides. An artist's rendering depicted a creation resembling a flickering laptop computer swelled to gargantuan proportions.

Gary Shapiro, president and chief executive officer of the association, testified that approving the signage was "absolutely critical" to the trade group's continuing economic success in Arlington. He said the ornamentation would establish the organization's identity and keep its visitors from being lost in Crystal City, which has been called a concrete canyon. Crystal City is "a little bland," he said, and the signs are needed to add "some excitement" to the area.

Pointing out that big employers, such as Microsoft, make up the trade group's membership, Shapiro said the group would spread the word to members about how Arlington officials handled his request, so that prospective corporate tenants would know whether the county is business-friendly.

"They are asking us what it is like to do business in Arlington," he said. Denying the group its choice of lighting "sends a bad message to the business community," said Angela Fox, president and chief executive of the Crystal City Business Improvement District.

But some county residents disagree.

"This is not Las Vegas; it's not a strip there," Kathy LaPlante said in a reference to the association's signature event, a trade show in Las Vegas where new products are unveiled. She said the lighting would result in an "eerie glow coming into the living room and bedrooms" of Crystal City residents.

"This proposal would be perfect in Times Square," said Ted Saks, who reminded board members of what he called a "long and consistent history of opposing signs facing neighborhoods."

The trade group's request placed county officials in the awkward position of disappointing a business of the kind they hope will stay and expand. They repeatedly thanked the association for relocating to Crystal City.

"The Consumer Electronics Association is a lot of wonderful things," said board member Jay Fisette (D), adding that he would make a few exceptions to the general policy to maintain goodwill. Still, he said, "the bands of light strike me as clearly outside our sign ordinance."

Vice Chairman J. Walter Tejada (D) expressed concern about setting a precedent by permitting a sought-after corporate tenant to do something outside the rules. "Once it's approved, someone else comes along and it's bigger and larger," he said.

Board member Chris Zimmerman (D) sought to explain the board's policy position to the CEA employees in the audience, most of them young adults. He described the decades-long battle that local governments undertook -- completed after some of them were born -- to reduce "visual clutter," which overtook the landscape with the rise of electric lighting, as consumer retailing became the nation's growth engine.

Board members also revealed their lack of knowledge on high-tech matters, at times causing titters among the young CEA staffers. One board member suggested that the association switch its logo to something that suggests electricity, such as a light bulb, which drew laughter. Another asked what LED stands for. (It's an abbreviation for light-emitting diode, a kind of electroluminescence.)

After two hours of debate, the board approved a compromise. It granted permission for a large sign with the letters CEA on the building's east facade, a monument sign at one corner and a glowing rooftop sign on the west facade that must be turned off each night at 11. The board also directed county staff members to work with the trade group to develop some kind of public art that would permit illumination as an architectural element, rather than as a sign.

They said no to the bands of lights and the 28 flashing LEDs.

"I'm not comfortable with the blinking lights," Zimmerman said. "I don't know what they would look like."

Shapiro said he was pleased that the association got some of what it wanted. "We are thrilled that the board approved all the signage that CEA requested despite some opposition from neighbors," he said. "The art design lights were not approved because of a technicality -- the building is not a new construction, which would not have required board approval for the artistic lights. We are encouraged that board members expressed support for the lighting as art and directed their staff to work with CEA to develop alternative proposals. Crystal City needs more exciting buildings, and we are hopeful that the board will consider relaxing its archaic lighting requirements."

Board Chairman Paul Ferguson (D) conceded that other communities would have handled it differently.

"Other communities would let you do whatever you want," he said.