GUILDERLAND —Businesses might love digital, or what might otherwise be known as video or electronic messaging signs, because notices to customers can be changed daily.
But the Town of Guilderland wants time to figure out how it's going to regulate digital signs, and enacted a temporary moratorium in October that bans businesses from putting up LED signs for the next six months.
“We started getting some concerns from people about impacts on residential property nearby, and on traffic — being a distraction type of thing,” said Supervisor Peter Barber. “We decided the right thing to do was to put a temporary pause on them.”
Barber said the town board will be putting together a draft of code recommendations for digital signs, restricting things such as wattage used or how often the screen changes. The board will also be evaluating whether there are areas in the town where digital signs should be completely prohibited.
During a public hearing at a town board meeting last month, multiple residents spoke out in favor of banning digital signs. After the town board posts its draft of recommendations on the town website, it will hold another public hearing for residents to respond.
The regulations would not apply to schools and libraries, as their building improvements are greenlit by the state Education Department, Barber said.
That question, however, was the subject of a legal suit in Bethlehem five years ago, after the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district put up a digital sign outside A.W. Becker Elementary School. The town alleged that a school still had to follow local zoning ordinances, and a 2012 zoning law banned any future outdoor electronic message-type signs in Bethlehem. A 2017 decision issued by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court found the school sign was subject to local zoning laws.
In bordering Colonie, digital signs have been allowed for years - and they can be seen on everything from restaurants to jewelry shops.
Supervisor Paula Mahan said the town has been getting about 30 new digital signs each year, currently making up about 20 percent of the total signs in the town.
However, similar to what Guilderland is working on now, Colonie has a town code that regulates the digital signage.
“If they’re asking for something that’s oversized, that’s too high, that’s too close to a property line — anything not meeting the code, then they would go before a sign review board,” Mahan said.
Mahan said the town received a few complaints from residents when Siena College’s digital sign on Loudon Road first went up, primarily concerning distractions from driving, but that residents have otherwise been mum on the issue.
“Right now it’s not a problem,” she said. “Things are closely monitored and we do have pretty strict restrictions.”
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November 04, 2020 at 02:40AM
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Guilderland mulls restrictions around electronic messaging signs - Times Union
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