The Gloucester County Planning Commission, meeting on Aug. 1 in the colonial courthouse, agreed to take up the issue of an amendment to the county code addressing awnings and sign projections along Main Street.

The proposal will address architectural projections into required setbacks. Planning director Anne Ducey-Ortiz said she hopes to bring it to the commission at its Sept. 5 meeting and, following deliberation by commissioners, the matter might be scheduled for public hearing this fall.

Triggering the discussion was an application filed by Rodney Hockaday several months ago to install an awning at the Buttons & Bows store on Main Street. However, that application was denied, she said, based on the inability to meet the minimum five-foot setback.

According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, even if the county had permitted the awning, a permit from VDOT would not be issued to allow encroachment into the right-of-way, Ducey-Ortiz said. She said Buttons & Bo...