Hanging a shingle earns increased scrutiny

The signs ”“ and the times ”“ they are a changin”™. Especially on Route 9, one of Dutchess County”™s busiest corridors.
In fact, there is so much signage of various sizes, shapes and colors, it led the Poughkeepsie Town Board to introduce changes to its existing sign law.
Barbara Fitzgerald and her son Todd Gloede, who own Gloede Signs, would never have known about the backlash, save for an alert neighbor who spotted the legal notice announcing the new ordinance.
The heads-up sent mother and son to other local businesses, finally bringing their tribulation to Poughkeepsie Chamber of Commerce President Charles North.
“As it stands now, the town supervisor formed a committee ”“ thanks to Charlie (North) ”“ to take a read of the current sign ordinance and look at the proposed one,” said Fitzgerald. “We are lucky that we have people who make signs on the committee. They really let you know from their perspective how things should be.”
Some of those members include town Supervisor Pat Meyers; John Diasley, town of Poughkeepsie councilman; Todd Dayright, owner of Foam Right Car Wash; Ken Kull of KK Signs; Josephine Dager, manager of the Poughkeepsie Plaza; and Tom McMarra of Hughes TV. Fitzgerald said the group is reviewing the current law and its proposed replacement step by step.
“We are all learning a lot as the process is moving along,” said North from his Poughkeepsie office. “Things you wouldn”™t think about as an ordinary person are coming out of these sessions, and we are all finding out what can be good, and bad, when it comes to road signage.”
“We all want what”™s best for the town,” said Fitzgerald, no stranger to the building boom going on in Poughkeepsie. As more office and retail complexes go up, so do signs, billboards and other attention-getters ”“ balloons are considered signage ”“ that can distract drivers and cause accidents, or just plain confuse the public.
“Certain signs have to conform to the size of the buildings; that”™s one issue,” says Fitzgerald. “We”™re attending these meetings and working together, hoping to come to a consensus and provide recommendations to the committee. Eventually, a new ordinance will be approved, hopefully that will be acceptable to most.”
Fitzgerald said she realizes not everyone ”“ even sign makers by trade ”“ may come away totally satisfied. “But we are glad the town is working with us.”
Fitzgerald said one lesson learned is to “read the legal notices. Had it not been for a neighbor who knows what our business is, we would have been  in the dark. We”™re very thankful Charlie (North) has taken up the issue with us and is working for our local businesses.”
The Signage Committee meetings are expected to end in July. Fitzgerald is confident the business community and the town will be able to come to a palatable agreement sometime in September.
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Recently, Key Bank announced it would be moving its district office from Newburgh to the town of Poughkeepsie, where Reginald Fuller, Key”™s district president, said the bank will enjoy more public exposure on Route 9”™s increasingly busy corridor. Like Key, many businesses see the major thoroughfare as the place to be in Dutchess. That leaves officials and local businesses to learn new ways to deal with unprecedented growth and the signs that accompany it.