Palo Alto ARB approves Cannery master sign program with lighting conditions; board asks staff to consider off-site El Camino monument

The Palo Alto Architectural Review Board voted 4-0 on Oct. 2 to recommend approval of a master sign program for the Cannery of Palo Alto at 340 Portage Avenue, with conditions requiring a lighting plan for signs adjacent to residential uses and refinement of a directional wall sign. The board’s vote carried with Board Member Rosenberg absent.

Board staff presented the proposal as a master sign program covering properties between 200 and 400 Portage Avenue and described nine signs plus additional address signage that remain generally consistent with an earlier submittal. Christina Dobkaviches, associate planner, said the revised plan removes one of two entry identification/directory signs and adds a freestanding monument sign at the Park Boulevard entry while keeping the Cannery name as the primary identity on building signage. “The recommendation is for ARB to approve the master sign program, recommended for director of planning and development services based on the findings and subject to conditions of approval,” Dobkaviches said.

The applicant’s sign designer, Dustin Posalapi, said the design trade-off was deliberate: the project team is proposing a single monument sign at the Park Boulevard entry and a directory sign at the garage entry that also lists tenants. “The…