Sign bylaw close to reality

LENOX – Some business owners thought the sandwich board sign issue would never get settled but after a year it a half the planning board has begun to approve guidelines.

Now the new law, an amendment to the General Bylaws, will be discussed with the public at an informational meeting on Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. After that meeting, the bylaw change would be headed for annual Town Meeting.

Under the proposed bylaw, all sandwich board signs will still be granted by the select board and enforcement will be handled by the building inspector.

To keep the signs under the guidelines currently in the town bylaws, businesses will have to apply annually to keep their sign.

The proposed bylaw would allow one sandwich board sign per business and must be between 18 and 27 inches wide and 30 to 48 inches tall.

With those guidelines, few signs in the town will be disallowed, although the current Lenox Chamber of Commerce sign is too large.

The new rules also outline what materials can be used for construction. Those expectable materials are wood and “rigid plastic composite.” The rule also outlaws the addition of any flags, banners or balloons to the sign.

Far-reaching change

One area that some businesses might have issue with is the scope of the proposed law. This law would not be limited to the historic district as earlier mentioned, but would cover the entire town, including the Routes 7 and 20 corridor.

This would allow the signs all over the town, but many businesses along Route 7 currently have sandwich boards and other temporary signs much larger than these guidelines.

“Although businesses in that area are not allowed to have any signs at all currently,” said Town Planner Mary Albertson. “So this would at least allow some of these signs for them.”

Posted by Kameron Z. Spaulding on October 11, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry