New Billboard to be Constructed on Rt. 9 South

Attorney John Giunco, of the firm Giordano, Halleran and Ciesla, represented Outdoor Media Systems in seeking submission waivers and preliminary and final site plan to  construct a double-faced billboard sign in front of the Howell Township Planning Board Thursday night.

The billboard will be constructed on lot 15.02 on block 135 on Route 9 South, just north of White Street. The lot is located within the HD-1 Zone, a highly developed zone, where billboard construction is a conditional use.   

Lot 15.02 houses a commercial storage warehouse facility consisting of 17 one-story storage units. The land to the north, south, and east of the property is also in the HD-1 Zone and is made up of retail, commercial, and office space; the land to the west of the proposed lot is in the ARE-2 Zone which is comprised of residential, agricultural, and vacant land. 

“The applicant seeks to construct an approximately 45 feet tall, 48 feet by 14 feet two sided outdoor advertising sign on the property. It would be a mono-pole support with  a V-structure on top with two sign faces it would be set back 20 feet back from the Route 9 right of way, which would be approximately 35 feet from the Route 9 curb,” Engineer Peter Strong testified. “The structure location meets all the conditions of the townships billboard ordinance which was recently passed.”

According to the Billboard ordinance, a billboard sign cannot be within 1,000 feet of another billboard on the same side of the highway, or within 250 feet of another ground sign on the property or a residential structure. The proposed billboard meets all requirements. 

Board member Curtis Vislocky was concerned with possible light spillage from the billboard sign and disturb the residents of an assisted living facility located next door to the self-storage facility.

Therefore, the applicant agreed to lessen the lights to three lights on each side of the billboard. 

Additionally, the already existing sign for the self-storage facility was brought into question in front of the planning board. When CME Associates, an engineering, surveying and planning firm went to review the property for the billboard they noticed that the current signage may be too large.   

Strong indicated that upon investigation his firm measured the advertising sign area to be 48.9 square feet. Since the advertising portion is less than the required 50 square feet, the sign meets the conditional requirements. 

Board Engineer and member of CME Associates, Laura Neumann, told the board that the 48.9 square feet indicated does include the area of an arrow that is connected to the sign, but does not include the frame that the sign is held in. 

The board had to determine whether the frame of the sign should be included in the total sign area. 

Board Planner Jeffrey Janota defined sign area according to the Howell Township billboard ordinance which stipulated: “sign area is the total area devoted to the conveying of the message exclusive of the advertising structure.” 

Advertising structure is then defined as: “any rigid or semi-rigid material with or without a sign displayed there on which is situated upon or attached to real property or mobile objects and vehicles outdoors for the purpose of furnishing a background, base or support upon which a sign may be posted or displayed.”

The board was split upon the issue of whether the red frame should be included in the measurement. In the end, the board decided that the arrow should be removed so that, whether the advertising structure consists of the frame or not, the sign would be less than 50 square feet. 

A truck parked in front of the facility was also brought up as an illegal sign since it promotes the business on the outside of the truck and is seemingly always parked in front of the operation on an elevated platform.

“The truck is part of the self-storage facilities offerings. We have spoken to the operator who advises that the truck averages 35 trips a week and 12,000 to 15,000 miles a year in serving their customers,” Giunco asserted.

As a compromise, the owner of the self-storage company agreed to park the truck in the rear of the property. 

Therefore, Outdoor Media Systems was granted preliminary and final site plan approval with the stipulations of three lights per side of the billboard, the truck would be moved to the back, and the arrow on the existing sign would be removed.