SANATOGA PA – The next fight over electronic signage in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township is scheduled for Feb. 15 (2011; Tuesday) at the southeast corner of East High Street and South Sunnybrook Road.
The bank's Sanatoga branch office on East High Street at South Sunnybrook Road, as seen in a file photo.
Actually the “battle,” as some might characterize it, will take place in the conference room at the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, at 6 p.m. That’s when the township Zoning Hearing Board expects to consider a request by National Penn Bank to install a new digital sign on the corner where its Sunnybrook branch office is located.
Zoning board members have been at the center of several signage controversies lately.
Current township law generally restricts the size, shape and flashing frequency of lighted message signs in many areas. The board during the past 18 months, has been asked by several property owners to authorize exceptions – legally known as “variances” – that would allow them to erect signs which don’t conform to the law’s requirements.
Coventry Christian Schools, the H&K Group, the Sunnybrook Foundation, Lamar Advertising, and National Penn all have announced their desire to put digital signs to work. The township Board of Commissioners, so far, has said it wants to keep limits in place to avoid visual clutter.
An advertisement announcing the hearing on National Penn’s request appears today (Friday, Feb. 4) in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, the township publication of record for legal notices.
The bank branch, at 1830 E. High St., is located in Lower Pottsgrove’s light commercial office district. National Penn wants permission to put up a “double-faced, internally illuminated LED (light-emitting diode) electronic message center sign,” according to the notice, that would replace but be larger than a sign already there.
A sign of that design is not permitted in the district, and commissioners want to keep it that way. They directed Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway to appear at the hearing and oppose the request on their behalf. “I see no overwhelming reason to make a change,” Commissioner Michael McGroarty said during a Board of Commissioners’ meeting last month, and his colleagues agreed.
The meeting is open to the public, and anyone can offer comments r opinions on the matter. Be advised, however, that the hearing is a legal proceeding. Those who wish to comment will be sworn in by oath, and their testimony will be added verbatim to the hearing record by a court stenographer.
Related:
- Hearings Scheduled For National Penn’s Sanatoga Sign
- Lower Pottsgrove, Lamar Negotiating Over Sign Request
- All Signs Point To More Township Signage Talk Tonight
- Anticipated Township Billboard Battle Gets A Reprieve
- Legal Fight Shapes Up Over Signs In Lower Pottsgrove
- Advertisers Propose Colorful, Electronic Sign In Township
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[...] Hearing Scheduled For National Penn’s Sanatoga Sign National Penn Bank wants to erect an electronic message sign outside its Sunnybrook branch office. It needs Lower Pottsgrove Zoning Hearing Board approval, though, and will present its case this month. [...]