Roundtable Discussion Leads To Many Ideas For Rocky Hill Business Signage

A small group of business owners and town leaders came together to try to come up with some new ideas to re-write or revise the current regulations concerning business signage in Rocky Hill. 

Led by Scott Coleman, a group of some Rocky Hill heavyweights tossed around ideas about what the next step should be. All were in agreement that the regulations are too restrictive and after seven years should be addressed for a number of reasons.

"We need to know how signage works for the community and understand the impact of the economics on signage," Coleman said. "Business owners in this town pat one third of the taxes so the town should work with us. They need to think of us as partners rather than establishments they have to police."

It was an impressive dais of panel members and included: former P&Z Chairman Barry Goldberg, Catherine Pappas of Webster Bank, Attorney Lisa Marrotta, Richard Kossakoski and Shawn Warden of Sign-A-Rama, State Farm agent Franco Cianfaglione, P&Z Chairman Alan Mordhorst, Deputy Mayor Phil Sylvestro, Paul Zaino of Battistons, P&Z member and Mayor candidate Henry Vasel and longtime former P&Z member Neil Geldof. 

Coleman was optimistic that the town would act as a partner with the local businesses. He was buoyed by the fact that people who make key decisions in the town came to the meeting.

"Our goals are to stem the business leakage, compete with surrounding towns to keep business in town and revitalize Rocky Hill's business community," Coleman said. "We also want to brand the town. Blue and white are the town colors and we can use them to not only help business but Parks and Recreation and Town Hall." 

Pappas brought up that Webster Bank had its own set of rules when it comes to marketing and signage.

"Banks have restrictions," she said. "Many businesses are owned by property managers and they have their own sets of standards. We have to go through marketing and compliance. That would be my concern."

Goldberg said. "When you deal with large institutions, those image standards are usually pretty low and they would ducktail planning and zoning regulations and guidelines. 

Other topics raised were:

• Where the state throughway starts and ends for signage at the curb
• Going to town staff before ordering signs to avoid problems
• Making the process streamlined and simpler
• Which is better? Re-writing or revising the regulations?
• Whether signage regulation should be a town staff policy or P&Z
• Can businesses can police themselves

"In my experience revising is much easier than re-writing," said Vasel. "When Channel 3 came here they wanted satellites. Well we didn't have anything in our zoning regulations about satellites. So we did our research and drew something up."

Sylvestro said he is all for fixing the signage regulations but in the meantime something temporary should be addressed.

"My advice is to the businesses in town is not to deal with the state at all," he said. "I would go to staff and ask them what the parameters of permissible signage is and go from there. It would be so much easier to do that then to do a sign and then have somebody tell you that it's not good." 

The next step for the group will likely be to form a sub-committee and come up with some important points to bring to either the Town Council or Planning & Zoning Commission.