Updating regulations on signs in a town may be a sign of the times, in that businesses are being challenged by the economy and seek a better roadside pitch. But in New Paltz, business people who successfully lobbied for a new sign law say it is a sign that common sense still wins out.
“I used a lot of scientific data,” said Craig Shankles, owner of New Paltz based PDQ Printing, which also does signs and graphic design. He was asked by New Paltz Chamber of Commerce President Joyce Minard to head a committee to look into changing the New Paltz sign ordinance, which was updated just a few years ago, but which had left business owners dissatisfied ever since.
Dec. 3, Shankles and his logical approach won over the town board, which passed a new sign ordinance unanimously. Shankles said that when he was asked by the chamber to take up the cause for better business signage, “I didn”™t want to look at it emotionally; I said let”™s make this a logical issue.”
He said that studies by the federal Small Business Administration showed that when directory signage was removed, sales dropped around 25 percent, while most businesses have about a 5 to 7 percent profit margin. He said that under the former New Paltz sign law, businesses in the shopping plazas on the main street of the town were denied impulse buys because drivers had no signage to see and locate businesses.
“We want to support the businesses that are in town,” said Minard, explaining reasons the chamber sought to convince town officials to change the sign law. “We want to make sure people are able as they are traveling through town, or want to shop in our town, to know where things are located.”
But, she added, “We want to make sure people know what is in the plazas without causing accidents. It”™s a safety issue.”
Shankles said that research showed that when drivers turn their head too far, beyond a safety zone, it resulted in more accidents.
The new sign law allows for a directory sign, that is, a sign that lists all the businesses inside a given plaza. It allows for up to seven businesses on ladder-style signs.
The law allows for so-called monument signs, which are set in constructed bases that display the sign in a more attractive setting than an ordinary base. “Monument does not mean monumental,” said Shankles, saying that the sign can be no more than 10 feet high. The new law will improve the look of the town, he said, by offering consistency and reducing the tower signs on a McDonalds and Burger King sitting across from each other, both of which will be forced to lower the height of their tower signs.
He said that the new law will improve the look of New Paltz”™s main street, from the Thruway interchange west through the town section down into the historic village of New Paltz, which has a different signage ordinance. Shankles said that the situations are different in the village and uptown where the plazas are.
“The plazas are in what I would call hardened real estate,” said Shankles. “Businesses in the plaza are set way back from the road and are hidden. You lose business when people drive past and don”™t know what is in there.”
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“We don”™t have big industry in New Paltz,” said Minard, “We have tourism, education and history are our fortes. We don”™t want to look like Las Vegas or Paramus; we want something that is depictive of what we represent. How do you get that known to the outside world without clean proper attractive signage?”
She said the chamber is going to put its money into a new sign. “ I can”™t wait to do it as soon as I have enough money,” said Minard, estimating that the chamber”™s plan for a monument sign with “great landscaping” would cost up to about $10,000.
“It”™s not cheap,” said Minard “But it”™s well worth it. As you drive into a town it is nice to know what is in the plazas.”
