by Jeff Cohen

The Sign Bylaw Review Committee will be recommending updates to the existing Sign Bylaw, which will require Town Meeting approval to enact.

The committee's goal is to bring its recommendations to the Annual Town Meeting in March, 2013. Early on, the committee recognized that it did not want to overwhelm Town Meeting with a complete overhaul of the Sign Bylaw to the degree that the proposed revisions would be too much to swallow and the residents would reject much of what the committee was trying to accomplish. The committee did not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but rather, focus on amending the current document to address several of its most obvious deficiencies. Some of the updates are grammatical in nature and could be covered within one or two warrant articles. Other recommendations are much more complex and will have to be specifically addressed in several warrant articles. Part of the process will involve educating the public ahead of time about the committee's work and to that end, a public workshop is tentatively planned for the October, 2012.

The committee is taking a three-pronged approach to updating the Sign

Bylaw: 1) Correct/edit the confusing language and ambiguities in the document as currently drafted to make it easier to interpret and understand, and more specifically, clarify the sections of the Bylaw that the ZBA typically struggles to interpret; 2) Change the one-size-fits-all approach in the current document and provide new Zone-specific requirements in recognition of the fact that what is appropriate for signage in Business/Commercial districts doesn't necessarily work well in Industrial districts; and 3) Make the Sign Bylaw more business-friendly in a manner that is palatable at Town Meeting (we want to address as many of the Chamber of Commerce member's comments/concerns as possible). There are probably more changes that need to be made than could reasonably be brought to the floor at one Town Meeting, so the committee will be considering how to best present its recommendations at the 2013 Annual Town Meeting. The committee may have to prioritize which are the most important items to present at this time and delegate other recommendations to be brought to the floor at subsequent Town Meetings, again, so as not to overwhelm the residents.

Here is a quick snapshot of some of the recommendations we've made thus

far: Increase the permitted size of freestanding signs in the Business zone from 20 SF to 30 SF (keeping limitations of maximum 6'-height x 5'-width); Provided the ability for businesses that front two streets in the Business zone to request a Special Permit to increase the area for their signs (presently does not exist) and revised the potential increase in area for wall signs from 20% to 25% of the first floor wall area; Added a provision that property owners may seek a Special Permit to erect more than one freestanding sign on their lot (primarily large campus settings, but not limited solely thereto); Eliminated the requirement that wall signs on adjacent storefronts must share the "same signing format" (to eliminate the "all letters must be the same color"

mentality in recognition of corporate branding); Eliminated the requirement that illumination of signs between 11 pm and 6 am must identify the entrance to the establishment (The requirement to seek a Special Permit to illuminate signs for businesses that are open between these hours remains, but there is now wider discretion available to the ZBA to grant approval); Revised the requirement that wording on flags must include the "business name" to state that the flag must "relate to the nature of the business;" Added language that permits "OPEN" flags to be displayed on the premises during normal business hours; and we are recommending that the term "Political Sign" be replaced with "Temporary Non-Commercial Sign" and the timeframe to display such signs be revised to not more than 30-days in a calendar year (this one is still a work in progress).

Based on what we heard from the Chamber of Commerce members, the committee will recommend that temporary sandwich board signs be permitted under certain circumstances; that barber poles be allowed to revolve and be internally-illuminated; and that the prohibition on internally illuminated signs be reconsidered.