Worcester Weighs Sign Reg Updates | Update proposed for city's 30-year-old rules
Photo/Brandon Butler
SIGNED: Todd Greamo, owner of Mass Liquors on Chandler Street, says his digital sign was well worth the investment. Updates to an ordinance being considered by the Worcester City Council could radically change what signs are allowed in the city.
About two years ago Todd Greamo paid about $20,000 to put in a digital sign outside his store, Mass Liquors, on Chandler Street in Worcester. That’s a significant investment for a small business, but it’s one that has paid big dividends.
“We’ve been on this corner since 1988, but the week after we put the sign up we had people coming in welcoming us to the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s been amazing.”
Greamo said the sign paid for itself in six months due to increased sales and since then he’s been spending less on print and radio advertisements.
That’s a winning endorsement for the power of signs. But many businesses in the city are worried that their outdoor advertising choices will soon be limited as local officials gear up to overhaul Worcester’s nearly 30-year-old sign regulations.
Worcester’s sign regulations were adopted in the 1960s and were last updated in 1980. In the last few years new types of signs, including video and graphic display signs, have become more popular around the country. The city’s code, however, makes no reference to digital signs. So each digital sign in the city has undergone a special permit process to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
“Technology has moved faster than government,” said Councilor At-Large Konstantina Lukes. “What we’re trying to do is have the city catch up with modern times.”
While a few weeks ago there was a movement to create a moratorium on new signs in the city while legislation is ironed out, that did not materialize.
Instead, the city’s planning and regulatory services division studied sign ordinances around the country and proposed a 30-page ordinance, which was released April 27. The ordinance is under review by the city’s economic development committee and must be approved the by city council before it takes affect.
The proposed ordinance has built in more flexibility in the types of signs allowed, according to Joel Fontaine, director of the city’s division of planning and regulatory services.
Current rules dictate the square footage of a sign in a certain district. Under the proposed regulations, the size of the sign is proportionally dependent upon the size of the building it sits on and how far the building is set back from the property line.
Another major change is creating three sign overlay districts in the city. In these areas, new billboards and digital signs are prohibited in an effort to preserve a historic and sign-free area.
These overlay districts are: the Route 146 corridor; the Blackstone Canal District; and the Union Station/Shrewsbury Street area.
The proposed ordinance also addresses digital signs. Specifically it prohibits videos and regulates brightness, Fontaine said, in an effort to ensure that digital signs are not a distraction to drivers.
Reaction to the proposal has been mixed.
Bob Murray of Murray Outdoor Communications in Shrewsbury said the regulations are a “business killer.”
“I think this whole situation is a complete, unwarranted attack on the sign industry,” said Murray. Billboards, which Murray’s specializes in, would be not allowed in close to 500 acres of the city if the proposed ordinance is passed. “I think it’s ludicrous,” he said.
Others in the sign industry are happy to see updated regulations that encourage aesthetically pleasing signs. The regulations, for example, limit the number of window signs to 25 percent of the window space.
“I think this ordinance does a really good job of getting the legislation in line with modern-day technology,” said David Glispin, whose North Grafton company, Sunshine Sign Co. Inc., specializes in custom-made signs. “This puts more of your options within the code. I see that making it easier to put up signs in the city.”
Regional Outlook
The city of Worcester isn’t the only community looking to make changes to its sign ordinance.
Framingham Town Meeting members will consider amendments to the town’s sign code this spring as well.
“It’s pretty much in a constant state of change,” said Framingham Building Inspector Mike Foley. The ordinance was written in 2000 and for each of the last three years there has been at least one request to change the regulations. This year there are seven proposed changes.
One proposed change would allow digital billboards, which are now prohibited along an advertising corridor on the Massachusetts Turnpike, to be installed. Another change would create a process to appeal the town’s decision about rejecting a sign installation.
Other communities have long-standing sign regulations.
Marlborough uses a proportion-based system like Worcester is considering to determine how large of a sign can be installed on a property. Like Worcester’s proposed ordinance, the Marlborough code allows digital signs to take up one-third of a business’s allotted sign space.
Meanwhile, Worcester City Council is expected to debate the ordinance this spring and summer.
“There will be tweaking,” said Councilor At-Large Frederick Rushton, chairman of the economic development committee. “How much tweaking will depend on input from the public and the planning board.”
Responding to some critics of the ordinance, Rushton said it’s “only natural” for those who have a financial stake in the issue to be opposed to change.
“What we really have to do is balance the interests of the sign business versus the aesthetics of the city and public safety,” he said.
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