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By LOU HATTER
■WVahamKkNvm Staff Writer
Acting on a legal advisory written by town attorney Frank Reynolds, the Washington Architectural Review Board approved an application from The Inn at Little Washington,. but referred the matter to Zoning Administrator John McCarthy for a decision on a zoning question.
Reinhardt Lynch, representing The Inn, explained that he and partner Patrick O’Connell wish to place four flagpoles on the front of their building, two on each of the center pillars. The 10-foot long silver poles with brass ball tips would be pitched at a 46-degree angle, set off at 30-degree angles from the front face of the pQlua. Two American flags, the Virginia state flag and the flag of the Relate et Chateaux hotel and restaurant guide would be flown, he said.
(The Relate et Chateaux is a world-wide hotel and restaurant guide, based in France, to which The Inn was admitted last year. There are only 11 hotels and restaurants in the United States which are members of the prestigious organization.)
Mr. Lynch added that, after having been granted four stars by the American Mobil Travel Guide, "we look to greater establishments for inspiration.” The Williamsburg Inn, also located in a historic district, is a five-star Mobil restaurant which flies flags in front of the establishment, he said.
He added that, in the ftiture, The Inn plans to honor visiting dignitaries by replacing one of the American flags with the flag of the guest’s country during their stay. The idea met with unanimous approval from the members of the board and the small audience seated in the courtroom.
"This is the first time flags have come up,” Chairman Carol Miller told Mr. Lynch.
The members of the ARB said that they had no problems with the flags of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, but that according to tHe definition in the town’s zoning ordinance, "there is some question as to whether the Relais et Chateaux flag would constitute commercial advertising” and as such would require a special use permit from the Town Council, Mrs. Miller said.
She read the following definition of a sign from the zoning ordinance: “Any-diapiayv of any letter, words, numerals, figures, devices, emblems, pictures, or any parts of combinations, thereof, by any means whereby the same are made visible for the purpose of making anything known . . . which display is visible beyond the boundaries of the parcel of land on which the same is made.”
"We have to do this to protect the town, you, and others,” Jim Thomasson added. “Someone else could hang flourescent banners marking a business and say ‘Well, you let The Inn hang their (banner)’.
“In logical and philosphical circles,” Mr. Thomasson continued, "there has always been a distinction made between signs and symbols. My opinion is that the flag is a symbol, awarded for excellence.
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