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Increasingly, however, planning agencies are using cor- ridor zoning districts, overlay controls, site planning gEA requirements, and other techniques to promote greaterPfii41AA •••••••11 • continuity in the design of commercial and industrial t . development along major roadways. The goal of all of 1111 ''the approaches is to create a more attractive, cohesive, 'and safe roadway area environment. 1 , SIGN CONTROL MEASURES Strip commercial corridors are an outgrowth of our J..r nation's reliance on the automobile as the dominant form DIO 4111IHAV1:A 6QOD TIME?DID of personal transportation. Not surprisingly, the signs and IOU SEE ANKTIIW6 INTERESTING? advertising devices used by the business establishments SJJ .that line urban roadway areas are oriented to the street ;.and directed at motorists. In their competition for the 'lattention of the motoring public, merchants continually push the roadside visual envelope to its breaking point by erecting bigger, taller, and brighter signs. The clutter vn.s- � AU-I SAW LERESNOPPNGCENTERS generated by these signs is one of the worst features of .; -- _ UKE AND mELS...EYERi('ioTN - - LOOKS EYERK OTHER TOWN.. the typical commercial corridor. On Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on-site signs it are viewed as an integral part of a proposed development's overall site plan. The town's recently amended Road Cor- ridor Overlay Zoning District requires that designs for new or replacement signs be reviewed by a special seven- 44,----T-40 Aii member Corridor Review Committee. Until the local cor- ridor ordinance was amended in early 1989, the commit- tee was forced to rely on vague guidelines requiring that IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE KV signs be"visually compatible"with their surroundings and —�•••YouYE NEVE . LEFT that they "avoid garish and inappropriate material. . . ." .– 411. Recent amendments to the ordinance left the committee's • u broad latitude intact but provide better criteria by which to jdge proposed designs.The amended ordinance directsif‘ 0 the review panel to consider sign material, color, and Y , - i shape when evaluating the appropriateness of proposed c---=.4",..1.1e �-•�� A•.. designs. The provisions also discourage signs that are m 1970-United Feature Syndicate.Inc. larger than, or out of proportion with, those on adjacent or nearby properties. Hilton Head's ordinance also specifically requires the of the two interstates that traverse the county. The ordi- development of an integrated sign design scheme for all nance prohibits billboards and permits only two on-site new planned unit developments, shopping centers, and signs per lot within the corridor. The maximum size of office complexes. Lighting standards are clearly spelled any sign located adjacent to the interstate corridors is 72 out on the basis of sign size—one 150-watt light per side square feet, well below the maximum of 200 square feet for signs up to 40 square feet in size, two per side for signs permitted elsewhere in the county. larger than 40 square feet. Within the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Mixed-Use Cor- Ideally, sign regulations for important corridor routes ridor District, the maximum size of wall signs is regulated will not have to differ significantly from those in effect on the basis of street-side building width and/or the width throughout the community. Business signs in the Santa of building area occupied by individual tenants. The ordi- Fe, New Mexico, Highway Corridor Protection District, nance provisions permit one square foot of wall sign-face for example, must simply meet the community's already area for each linear foot of building frontage or tenant rigorous sign controls and comply with special provisions space, up to a maximum of 70 square feet. Parish regula- requiring that freestanding signs include no more than tions also permit one freestanding sign per building site. three colors and two lettering styles, with at least one of Projects with two or more tenants, however, are limited the sign's colors matching the predominant building col- to one sign that identifies the overall project. The size of ors in the development. freestanding signs within the corridor district is limited Certain types of uses tend to prefer commercial strip by lot frontage—one square foot of sign face is allowed locations, and, as a result, sign control measures that tar- per linear foot of frontage, up to 70 square feet. get commercial corridors can be more specific and pre- Gasoline price signs (frequently a sticking point in cise in their coverage than citywide standards. In Orange drafting new sign regulations) are given special treatment • County, North Carolina, the Major Transportation Cor- in the Jefferson Parish ordinance. While the information ridor overlay zoning provisions impose special setback included on other permitted signs is restricted to the name and sign controls on new development within 1,250 feet and address of the business, gasoline service stations are 7