Sandwich boards denied along routes 7 and 20 corridor

LENOX – Apparently the town can say no.

At its last meeting, the Lenox Board of Selectmen approved three sandwich board signs. All three signs are located in the village, and their approval will last until a new sign bylaw is approved, or until the end of the year, whichever comes first. These signs are for Shots Café, Patisserie Lenox and Kaufman’s Antiques.

The selectmen chose, however, for the first time since the board began issuing special permits for sandwich board signs, not to approve two signs.

This decision was made after a presentation from Planning Board Chairwoman Kathleen McNulty-Vaughn and Member Kimberly Flynn.

In the presentation, Chairwoman McNulty-Vaughn and Ms. Flynn said the two signs in question, one for Devonshire Estates and the other for Electra’s Café, were inappropriate because they were located on the routes 7 and 20 corridor.

The main reasons they gave for the committee’s opinion on this matter was they viewed sandwich board signs as being for the benefit of pedestrian and not car traffic.

They also said the maximum size they were looking at for sandwich board signs in the new bylaw they were drafting wouldn’t allow the signs to be safely read from cars, and the board should not approve signs contradicting what the new bylaw will say.

“Our desire is not to see this kind of signage up on the edge of the road,” said Chairwoman McNulty-Vaughn. “Our preference is for you to say no to these requests.”

Still, both women noted alternative signage measures were being considered in the new bylaw to allow businesses on the routes 7 and 20 corridor to better advertise themselves.

“It just doesn’t seem prudent to me to be putting sandwich boards along the highway,” said Board of Selectmen Chairman Kenneth L. Fowler.

No one on the select board, or in the audience, advocated for the two signs, and the selectmen chose not to take up the requests, essentially pocket-vetoing them.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on January 17, 2013. 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