Borough Zoners Create Residential Accessory-Use Sign Rules 

By Andrew Gorosko

The Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) has approved new rules that regulate the placement of small commercial signs indicating the location of professional offices that operate within residences as an accessory land use.

The sign rules, which will take effect on April 15, cover professional categories such as doctors, dentists, attorneys, and surveyors.

In a 3-to-2 vote following a March 20 public hearing, the BZC approved the rules which allow such signs within residential zones.

Voting in favor were members Brid Craddock, David Francis, and Lucy Emerson Sullivan. Opposed were Chairman Linda Shepard and Palmer Chiapetta.

The new rules allow the placement of one freestanding hanging sign supported by a single post.

The rules specify a maximum sign size of two square feet, with the longest side of the sign being no more than three times the length of the shortest side of the sign. The sign must be located on the lot where the accessory use is conducted.

Besides, creating the new sign rules, the commission modified three related existing regulations.

Planning and Zoning Commission members had endorsed the borough signage rules that were approved by the BZC on March 20.

The BZC had conducted a public hearing on February 8 on a set of then-proposed signage rules which would have allowed signs to be progressively larger, depending upon how far from the street they were located. Under that now-defunct proposal, relatively smaller signs would have been allowed nearer to streets and relatively larger signs would have been allowed farther away from streets.

At the March 20 session, commission members decided to drop the sign rules proposal that was discussed at the February 8 public hearing, replacing it with the new version of the sign rules.

Ms Craddock said that residents speaking at the February hearing told commission members that they favored signs that are relatively smaller and positioned close to the street.

Also, Mr Francis noted that certain existing signs that indicate the presence of professional offices within residences are larger than the two-square-foot limit imposed by the new regulations. Existing signs as large as six square feet are not objectionable, he said.

BZC members addressed the sign regulation issue in light of an attorney moving his office to a Main Street house and wanting to post a sign there indicating the presence of his home-based legal office.

The new sign rules would not cover existing signs that are in use to indicate the presence of accessory professional offices within residences.