KENT, Conn.—The Planning and Zoning Commission last week appointed a five-person subcommittee to tackle reworking the town’s signage regulations. Matt Winter, PZC Chairman Karen Casey, Vice Chairman Sarah Chase, Library Director Sarah Marshall and Fife ‘n Drum owner Elissa Potts all volunteered to be on the subcommittee.
At its August meeting the commission heard a suggestion from Winter, a former PZC chairman, that the town rewrite its signage regulations while at the same time enforcing the rules currently on the books.
He said temporary signs have been allowed to remain up longer than permitted by the regulations, that village center properties have been allowed to maintain signage in excess of what is permitted, and that “attention-getting devices” have been allowed to be displayed. He noted that internally illuminated signs and images are also in direct violation of the regulations but are in place at some businesses.
Following Winter’s remarks last month, the commission decided to form a subcommittee but also instructed Zoning Enforcement Officer Tai Kern to enforce the existing regulations up to and including court action against businesses that remained noncompliant. Kern subsequently issued notices of violation to some businesses in the village center.
This month, however, the immediate question became how far to take enforcement of the existing rules while the rewrite is underway. “We’re at the point with the enforcement orders where we would have to turn them over to [land use attorney] Mike Zizka to take to court,” said Kern. “To what extreme do you want to go?”
“Do we want to say, ‘Let’s push the pause button on enforcement, with no fines until we have new regulations?’” asked Chase, saying she favored reversing her earlier motion to enforce the rules.
But commission alternate member Darrell Cherniske said it would not be a good precedent to vote to enforce regulations and then back away from that action. Staying any fines should only be a “soft pause,” he said, allowing Kern to go forward with enforcement action against egregious violations.
Potts advocated for a “little leniency right now as we go into the fall season.”
Casey suggested that a lot of businesses might not even have known that they were violating the existing code. “By sending out enforcement notices, we shook everyone up a little,” she said.
PZC member Donna Hayes, who was formerly the ZEO, noted that when she held the office, it was “decided we would back off on A-frame signs as long as the merchants put them away when they closed their businesses each day and that they were not blocking pedestrian walkways.” She favored holding off on fines with the caveat, that once the new regulations are in place, anyone not complying should be taken to court.
Member Shelby Green agreed with pausing enforcement, saying there seems to be a great deal of confusion about what is allowed and what is not. Kern confirmed that the existing regulations are contradictory in places. For instance, the regulations require sandwich board signs to be 10 feet from the property line. “Few properties have 10 feet,” she noted.
Gary Kidd, co-owner of 45 on Main and one of the businesses cited by the ZEO for use of “attention-getting devices,” said he wanted more clarification. His business is known for its sometimes-extravagant seasonal decorations.
Kern said, “Gary came forward with the different kinds of decorations he likes to do seasonally. But the regulations don’t speak specifically to decorations, and, if they are allowed, there is really no end to them—for instance, there is National Ice Cream Day. At what point is a decoration an attention-getting device?”
She referred to the “igloo” currently in front of Kidd’s place of business “Is it an umbrella, is it a decoration? He has gates that he decorates seasonally. They’re not permanent structures; they’re meant to be decorations. Right now, he is ordered to remove a lot of that stuff but if the commission feels like it’s acceptable, we should understand that.”
Potts said that business is a “lot trickier” today for merchants and restaurants along busy Route 7 and some businesses need sandwich-board signs to call attention to their stores—particularly those that are located off the main street.
She added, “No one wants the town to look crappy, cheap and disgusting but everybody is out there trying to make a living. Where do you draw the line?”
Potts advocated for allowing interior illuminated signs and said that if merchants remove their sandwich board signs at the end of the business day “that would be a good start.”
Kidd asked that the business community be allowed to participate in the subcommittee discussions “so the needs of the town and the needs of businesses” can both be satisfied through the new regulations. He was assured that there will be plenty of opportunity for comment at the public subcommittee meetings. Further, a public hearing will be needed before new regulations can become effective.
“We want to know what the townspeople think of this,” Casey said. “We’re a charming, traditional New England village and want to keep it that way.
She said Matt Winter has already submitted “some terrific ideas” along with several pages of sample sign regulations.
