A FRAMEWORK FOR ON-PREMISE SIGN REGULATIONS is particularly important in light of the prevailing tendency to limit sizes of signs to the extent that they cannot be comprehended by the motorist on the adjacent highway; and to impose limitations based on concerns about traffic safety that cannot be readily supported. The code in A FRAMEWORK FOR ON-PREMISE SIGN REGULATIONS is guided by principles that have been developed by both planners and various groups within the sign industry. Over the last twenty or so years the standards applicable to each of these factors have been documented in several books and other publications, many of which are listed in the appendix. Additionally these principles were recently endorsed by the American Planning Association in its 2004 Planning Advisory Service Report No. 527, STREET GRAPHICS AND THE LAW.

The goal of A FRAMEWORK FOR ON-PREMISE SIGN REGULATIONS is to provide communities with an appropriate method for formulating on-premise sign regulations that fully respect the comprehensive purposes of signs from the perspective of both community and business interests. These purposes include:

• Serving a legitimate business advertising function.
• Using signs as a means of “way finding” to assure that signs efficiently direct the motorists from the highway/roadway to the adjacent facilities.
• Assure that signs are sized and arranged to minimize clutter and prevent unsafe conditions.
• Assure that signs and their message are of sufficient size to be legible and comprehensible to the intended audience, which is typically a passing motorist.

ALAN C. WEINSTEIN, Associate Professor of Law & Urban Studies, Director, Law & Public Policy Program, Cleveland State University

DAVID HARTT, President D.B Hartt Inc., Planning and Development Consultants
 

Download a copy of “A Framework for On-Premise Sign Regulations”