The Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals will let there be light at Rochester Crossroads, giving approval to the special permit for signs with soft halo backlit lighting at the proposed Cranberry Highway location – under the condition that the lights be turned off after business hours.
The board had several concerns they wanted addressed from the last meeting when Lisa Mann of Sign Design in Brockton first presented the proposed lighting and signage plan on behalf of Rochester Crossroads.
Neighbors and board members alike were concerned about light pollution, which prompted the board to consider conditioning the project so that certain signs would have to be shut off after hours of operation were over.
“Sure, we don’t have a problem with that,” stated James Kane, senior vice president at A.D. Makepeace Company, owners of the land.
Mann said she took all the board’s comments into consideration and brought with her some examples of signs and lights from the plan to show the board.
“Not everything has to be glaring in your face, face-lit,” said Mann, holding an approximately six-inch high LED halo back-lit letter ‘N’ before the board. “You’re only going to see the word instead of the whole face lit up.”
Any idea what time the lights would be turned off at night, asked ZBA Chairman Richard Cutler.
Kane said at 9:00 or 10:00 pm, unless one of the tenants was a 24-hour business, such as a hotel.
Both parties were satisfied with the conditions of the special permit, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Also during the meeting, Brian Cook, owner of a vacant lot on 28 Marion Road where three businesses and two residences stood before a fire in 2011, approached the board for advice on whether or not he could proceed with rebuilding on the site before taking the first costly steps toward designing any plans or applying for any site plan reviews.
“I’m here because I don’t want to invest any more into the property than I already have … without knowing what I can do with it,” said Cook. He said Town Counsel Blair Bailey advised him to go to the ZBA first for options before proceeding further.
Cook is proposing to rebuild in the same 3,600 square-foot footprint, but placing the structure differently to make the plan less non-conforming than the previous structure.
The board debated some issues with Building Commissioner James Buckles, such as whether or not the property falls under abandonment when applying the regulations, and decided to continue the matter in order to obtain advisement from Bailey.
The next meeting of the Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals is November 13 at 7:00 pm at the Rochester Town Hall.
By Jean Perry
