412 Girod St.

Staff Recommendations: 

The HDLC Design Guidelines note that the type and placement of exterior lighting play an important role in maintaining the authentic historic character of a building and its surrounding area. The Guidelines also note that existing ambient street or storefront lighting may adequately illuminate signage, which is preferred over the installation of additional light fixtures. When sign lighting is proposed, fixtures should be unobtrusive and compatible with the character of the building, including in their location, orientation, and light output, and should be aimed to illuminate only the sign surface.

The Guidelines further distinguish between sign illumination and security lighting. When  installing new security lighting, there must be a balance between providing sufficient lighting to create a secure feeling while maintaining compatibility within the surrounding neighborhood context. Additionally, security lighting is intended to be located as discreetly as possible, preferably on rear or non-street-facing elevations, with a limited number of fixtures and activated by motion sensors whenever possible. Flood lights, for example, are not permitted at street-facing elevations.

The original sign application approved in 2017 included two small “bullet”-style light fixtures to illuminate both sides of the sign, and these fixtures appear to have been properly installed by December 2018. However, the fixtures appear to have been damaged during a storm event around March 2022. Following this damage, the original fixtures were removed and replaced with the current floodlight-style fixtures without HDLC approval. These fixtures appear to be primarily oriented toward the sidewalk area below rather than toward the sign faces.

While Staff understands the applicant’s desire to increase lighting at the front of the building for security purposes, the currently installed floodlight-style fixtures are not considered appropriate for sign illumination and function more as general site and security lighting at this highly visible street-facing elevation. This is particularly the case given that there are already three existing wall-mounted lights at the ground level to provide lighting at the storefront. Staff has also advised the owner that additional general and security lighting may be explored separately through coordination with Entergy and nearby street light poles.

Based on this, Staff recommends denial of the request for retention and recommends that new fixtures similar to the previous directional "bullet" lights are installed to illuminate only the sign surfaces. 

• Staff Recommendation: Denial