N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 MM app Q-3
STANDARDS FOR SIGNS ASSOCIATED WITH PROJECTS
1. The purpose of these standards. The
purpose of these standards is to provide a coordinated, uniform and consistent
approach for the review by the agency of signs proposed to be erected or
maintained onsite in association with projects subject to agency jurisdiction,
taking into consideration the natural, scenic, aesthetic and open space
resources sought to be protected by the statutes the agency
administers.
2. Application of
these standards. These standards shall govern the agency in its review of all
private signs associated with projects subject to agency jurisdiction which are
proposed to be erected or maintained onsite in association with such activities
as business, commercial, industrial and tourist, including but not limited to
automobile service stations, junkyards, mineral extraction uses and structures,
public and private sand and gravel pits, tourist accommodations, tourist
attractions, residential subdivisions, campgrounds, trailer parks and mobile
home courts.
Off-premises signs are regulated by the Adirondack Park sign law, administered by the Department of Environmental Conservation pursuant to ECL 9-0305 and 6 NYCRR Part 195. If an off-premises sign is also subject to agency jurisdiction, the agency shall apply the standards of this appendix as well as those applicable under 6 NYCRR Part 195.
3. Definitions.
(a) Sign means any sign, billboard,
advertising structure or inscribed surface, pattern of artificial lighting,
pictorial or symbolic ornament, emblematic structure, banner, fluttering
apparatus, statue, model, ornamental figure or other visually communicative or
expressive device that is visible from an out-of-doors position and is used to
advertise or call the public's attention to any business, commercial,
industrial, tourist or any other activity, object for sale or lease, person or
place, or to bear any kind of message. It includes any surface on which a name,
text, device, signal, ornament, logotype or advertising matter is made visible.
The meaning of sign shall also include any sign currently in disuse but still
visible from an out-of-doors position, and any frame or support structure
erected specifically to bear or uphold a sign. The meaning of sign shall not
include any sign erected by the Federal, State, county or local government or
any department or agency thereof, any poster placed temporarily to advertise a
civic event or an event sponsored by a house of worship, school, library,
museum, social club or society, or any patriotic flag or banner not used for
commercial advertising purposes. The meaning of sign shall also not include any
sign having a sign area no greater than three square feet that is used simply
to mark property boundaries, give directions regarding roads or trails, exclude
hunting, fishing, or other activities, warn of any hazard or condition; if for
a residence, denote the name and address of the occupants of the premises on
which the sign is located, or advertise the availability of the premises or
some portion thereof for sale or lease.
(b) Sign area means the total area of all
faces or surfaces of a sign anywhere upon which writing or any illustrative,
emblematic or other artistic or expressive matter appears; or, in cases where
writing or illustrative, emblematic, or other artistic or expressive matter is
not set against any face or surface, the total area within a single continuous
rectangular perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of such writing or
illustrative, emblematic or other artistic or expressive matter. The sign area
of a sign having more than one face or surface on which writing or
illustrative, emblematic or other artistic or expressive matter appears shall
be the total area of all such faces or surfaces; but if a sign consists of two
such faces or surfaces placed back to back, the sign area of the side having
the greater sign area shall constitute the total sign area. The sign area of a
group of connected or related signs shall be the sum of the sign areas of the
signs belonging to it.
(c) Erect
means to build, construct, alter, enlarge, relocate, attach, hang, place, affix
or maintain any sign, and includes the painting of wall signs.
(d) Luminous sign means an incandescent or
other sign which gives forth its own light, or any transparent or translucent
sign through which artificial light is emitted, including, without limitation,
any neon sign, fluorescent sign or advertising light display.
(e) Level of natural ground means the level
of ground prior to any grading or fill done primarily for the purpose of
erecting any sign or raising the level of a sign's allowable height.
4. Number of signs.
(a) Not more than two signs may be erected or
maintained advertising or otherwise relating to a single business or activity,
except for directional signs that do not exceed two square feet in sign area
and are limited to such texts as "Office", "Entrance", "Exit", "Parking", and
"No Parking".
(b) Not more than one
pole sign may be erected or maintained upon the premises of any gasoline or
other automotive service station.
5. Design and location of signs.
(a) No sign shall be illuminated by or
contain flashing, intermittent, rotating or moving light or lights. All
luminous signs, indirectly illuminated signs and lighting devices shall employ
only lights emitting light of constant intensity.
(b) No luminous sign, indirectly illuminated
sign or lighting device shall be placed or directed so as to cause glaring or
non-diffuse beams of light to be cast upon any public street, highway, sidewalk
or adjacent premises, or otherwise to cause glare or reflection that may
constitute a traffic hazard or nuisance. No sign shall in its construction
employ any mirror or mirror-like surface, nor any day-glowing or other
fluorescent paint or pigment.
(c)
No sign or part thereof shall contain or consist of any banner, pennant,
ribbon, streamer, spinner or other similar moving, fluttering or revolving
device. Such devices, as well as strings of lights, shall not be used for
advertising or attracting attention whether or not they are part of any sign.
No sign or part thereof may rotate or move back and forth.
(d) No sign shall contain any neon or similar
lighting.
(e) No sign shall be
placed upon or be supported by any water body or any tree, rock or other
natural object rather than the ground.
(f) No sign shall be erected or maintained
upon the roof of any building or structure.
(g) No motor vehicle on which is placed, or
painted, any sign intending to advertise the premises subject to agency
jurisdiction shall be parked or stationed on such premises in a manner
primarily intended to display the sign.
(h) No sign shall project more than three
feet from the wall of any building, nor shall any sign project from the roof of
any building or into any public way.
(i) No sign shall be erected or maintained
within the right-of-way, nor within 10 feet of the roadbed of any public street
or highway; nor shall any sign exceeding 20 square feet in the sign area be
erected or maintained within 20 feet of the roadbed of any public street or
highway; provided, however, that these minimum setback distances shall not
apply to signs erected upon any building entirely housing the business or
activity with which the signs are principally associated. For the purposes of
this provision, the roadbed shall mean the trafficable portion of a road,
street, or highway, bounded on either side by the outer edge of the shoulder or
guardrail, whichever extends farthest. Where there is no shoulder or guardrail,
there shall be deemed to be a shoulder extending four feet from the outer edge
of the pavement or unpaved traffic lanes.
(j) No sign shall be erected or maintained
more than 200 feet from the business or activity with which it is principally
associated. For the purposes of this provision, the location of a business or
activity shall include all of the principal private access road connecting the
actual place of that business or activity with a public street or
highway.
(k) No sign shall be
erected or maintained in a location primarily directed at travelers upon the
Adirondack Northway (Interstate Route 87).
6. Size, height and components of signs.
(a) No sign shall be erected or maintained
having a sign area greater than 40 square feet. No luminous sign shall be
erected or maintained having a sign area greater than 15 square feet.
(b) If two signs are erected or maintained
with respect to a given activity, the total sign area of the two signs shall
not exceed 60 square feet.
(c) No
pole sign erected or maintained upon the premises of any gasoline or other
automotive service station shall have a sign area greater than 15 square
feet.
(d) No sign shall exceed 20
feet in overall height, measured from the highest level of natural ground
immediately beneath the sign to the highest point of the sign or the supporting
structure thereof.
(e) Signs shall
be made of stone, brick and wood, shall be simple in design and color scheme
and shall contain a minimal number of component parts.
7. Number of permitted signs where more than
one principal activity is being conducted. Notwithstanding the standard
governing the number of signs permitted to be erected or maintained on any
parcel of real property set forth in section 4 hereof, the following standards
shall guide the agency in its review of all private signs associated with
projects described in section 2 hereof when more than one principal activity is
proposed to be conducted on a separate and discrete basis upon the parcel of
real property associated with the project, such as in the case of a shopping
center or other multiple commercial use facility.
(a) A single free-standing sign not in excess
of 40 square feet in sign area or more than 20 feet in height may be erected
identifying the center or facility as a whole, but shall not contain
advertising matter.
(b) One
individual wall sign not in excess of 30 square feet in sign area may be
erected for each separate principal activity, such as a shop or
store.
(c) An overall sign design
plan for any such center or facility subject to agency regional project review
jurisdiction shall be required, which shall include the sign design plan or
plans for each principal activity therein, and shall reflect a reasonable
uniformity of design, lettering, lighting and material.
8. Nonconforming signs. If a regional project
subject to Adirondack Park Agency review is proposed for a parcel of real
property upon which an existing sign is located, and the said existing sign is
associated with the principal activity which is the subject of the proposed
project but does not conform to these standards, the agency may require that
the said non-conforming sign be brought into compliance herewith within a
reasonable period of time, not to exceedsix years. Such requirement that the
non-conforming sign be brought into compliance herewith may entail the
compulsory elimination of the sign upon the termination of a period calculated
to be the remaining economic life thereof based upon actual depreciation
schedules, but in any event not to exceed six years.
9. Residential and other nonbusiness uses. In
the case of residential uses and other nonbusiness-oriented uses, the agency
will apply these private sign standards, except that only one sign may be
erected or maintained upon a parcel of real property, the sign area may not
exceed eight square feet, and the overall height of the sign may not exceed six
feet.
Notes
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