West Windsor is taking another look at an issue that has been generating controversy for years — its policy on signs.
Changes are being proposed for two types of signs: business signs and political signs. First, the council is looking to make it easier for business owners to place temporary signs directly adjacent to their businesses — located in strip malls, for example — to attract more visitors to their storefronts. Currently, those signs are not permitted.
A draft of revisions to the sign ordinance is expected to be reviewed on Monday, June 27.
Under the proposed changes, the business owners would be able to place one sign outside of their businesses during operating hours and would be required to take the sign inside at all other times.
Some council members argued that allowing the signs would not be a detriment to the appearance of the township because the signs would not be allowed to remain outside overnight or during other hours when the businesses are closed.
Some businesses around town already use those signs without permission from the township.
The second area of revisions will be to the regulations governing political signs. The council already came to a consensus on those regulations last year, when they agreed they would only permit political signs 30 days before and 7 days after an election and that they would be limited to 16 square feet in size.
Council also decided to permit only one political sign per candidate at the entrance of a public park or property as well as on medians in the public right-of-way, so long as the signs never obstruct public view.
However, council never voted to officially amend the sign ordinance to reflect these changes to political sign regulations. So along with the new changes for business owners, the political sign changes will also be reviewed on June 27.
The issue about hardships facing business owners in town has resurfaced periodically, despite council’s adoption of changes to the sign ordinance in March, 2009, to cut down on the appearance of the commercial real estate lease signs seen up and down Alexander Road’s commercial sector.
Following the changes, the council formed an ad-hoc committee in 2010 to work with those business owners to help address their concerns with a lack of visibility within the township.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers disagreed with the proposed changes, saying that she thought even the open house realty signs around town that are temporary are unacceptable and that allowing more temporary signs would lead to more problems.
But Ciccone argued that “there’s got to be a balance somewhere.”
Geevers urged the council to send a draft of the changes to the Planning Board for review, but she was outnumbered by her council colleagues, who said they wanted to ensure the changes to the ordinance — including to political signs — were made before the campaign season for the November elections.
