Won’t sign off on plan:
The Stonington Zoning Board of Appeals rejects a variance for the second time for a digital billboard on Route 1.
Stonington — For the second time in nine months, the Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday rejected a variance for a digital billboard in front of Fleming’s Feed on Route 1.
The board voted 4-1 to reject the billboard, with members sayings Fleming’s should instead be applying to the Planning and Zoning Commission to change the regulations to allow digital billboards instead of seeking a variance to the regulations that prohibit them.
The application rejected Tuesday was virtually the same one that was not approved in July, but contained more detailed information about lighting intensity and whether such billboards distract drivers, including a state Department of Transportation study that found they don’t.
The variance was sought because town zoning regulations prohibit full internal illumination of a sign and ban signs that “use a technology capable of displaying digital, variable, or alternating messages and copy generated by any electronic, mechanical or illuminated means.”
At the July public hearing, the board voted 3-2 to allow the owners of Fleming’s Feed to tear down three traditional billboards and replace them with a much smaller, two-sided, digitally lit billboard. However, a 4-1 vote is required to approve a variance.
The proposed billboard would have been 180 square feet, compared to the 900 square feet of signage that exists now. The sign would eliminate or decrease the zoning nonconformities of the existing billboards, such as their location in the state right of way, would meet flood elevation requirements and improve site lines for traffic leaving the site. In addition, town police and fire departments would have had access to post emergency notices on the digital billboard. The signs would have had no animation, would change every 8 to 10 seconds and be turned off from midnight to 6 a.m.
At the hearing Tuesday before the vote, Rob Kapell, the co-owner of Mystic Cycle Center, spoke in support of the digital billboard, saying the current signs are peeling, in bad condition, block the view of adjacent businesses and are an eyesore. He said the new billboard would offer small, local businesses, such as his, a chance to advertise for much less than what it would cost for a long-term advertisement on a traditional billboard, especially when it needs to promote a special event or sale for a short period of time.
But Pawcatuck resident Carlene Donnarummo called the proposed sign very distracting and said “the whole character of the area would be changed by this.” She warned about setting a precedent.
Former Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Ben Tamsky said that during a rewrite of the zoning regulations while he was on the commission, “we went to great lengths to keep these types of signs out of the regulations.”
ZBA Chairman Matthew Berger, an attorney, said his understanding of case law is that towns cannot grant a variance to allow a use that is prohibited by zoning regulations.
Member Bill Lyman was among the members who said the applicant had not demonstrated the required legal hardship needed to grant a variance, which is defined as a unique feature of the property that prevents the reasonable use of the property in conformance with the regulations.
Some board members said they were torn over the decision, as the digital billboard would actually be an improvement over the situation that exists now.