WATERTOWN — Michael A. Cornell said the weekly revenue from his restaurant, Mike’s Pig Pen, doubled after installing a sign that scrolled through his specials, and he was frustrated when a town zoning law required him to uninstall it.
Mr. Cornell and Gurney McCabe, owner of McCabe’s Supply Inc. on Route 232, asked the Town Planning Board to review the section of the town’s Sign and Billboard Control Law that prohibits them and other business owners from having flashing signs or signs with moving text at the board’s Monday meeting said Pamela D. Desormo, co-chair of the planning board and town clerk.
According to section five of the law, businesses and residents are prohibited from installing signs with moving parts, flashing lights, moving lights, rotating lights and intermittent lights. Town Code Enforcement Officer John L. Grant to notified the two owners about their sign violations in late February, Mrs. Desormo said.
Mrs. Desormo said some businesses in the town have signs with flashing or moving messages because they installed them prior to the law’s adoption in 2010.
“I hope I can get my sign up,” Mr. Cornell said. “Either that or start looking at other places to do business.”
Mr. Cornell said he only had his scrolling text sign for a week before the town told him to turn it off.
He installed his 18-foot-high, 44-inch-wide sign outside his restaurant on Route 11 to showcase his specials and bring more customers into his restaurant, a goal he has worked on since he opened in 2013. During the week the sign operated, Mr. Cornell said his daily earnings rose from about $80 to $300.
Mr. Cornell said he intends to file an application for appeal of a zoning law to have the Planning Board review the signage law at its next meeting April 3.
“I just have no way to tell people what I have to sell at all,” he said. “I’m not big enough to go on TV all of the time or be in the paper all of the time. I’m just asking them to give me a break.”
Mr. McCabe could not be reached for comment, but Mrs. Desormo said he changed his sign from having moving messages to showing a stationary message.
The board may host a workshop to review the section of the town’s signage law.
Mrs. Desormo, however, said the board will wait until one of its members, who is out on sick leave, returns before making a decision on whether to review the law or schedule a workshop. The board can suggest revisions to a zoning law, but Mrs. Desormo said the Watertown Town Council decides whether to adopt them.
“If we feel like we would like to ... we would review it, sit down and make any determination if we wanted to change what we already have,” she said. “We’re more than willing to talk with them and consider their requests.”