Board flags tasting‑room sign for ZBA review on size and lettering; Encore Hair sign endorsed

The planning board reviewed two sign requests from commercial properties. It found the proposed Encore Hair directional sign in Esther Square appropriate and consistent with the town’s emerging sign concept for that plaza, but flagged a tasting‑room sign on River Road for Zoning Board of Appeals review because the proposed panel and lettering exceed the code’s size and maximum lettering area rules.

Staff said the Encore Hair sign is modest and would replace a cluttered arrangement of older signage, and recommended the planning board endorse the existing sign as acceptable for the plaza and require no further review. For the tasting‑room sign, staff noted the proposed double‑faced black sign is tasteful and an improvement over the prior white sign, but that the lettering and logo occupy more than the code‑permitted percentage of sign area; the applicant had applied for a size variance but had not listed the lettering percentage as a separate variance.

The planning board voted to recommend the Encore Hair sign and to ask the tasting‑room applicant to seek the additional lettering variance from the ZBA. Staff also asked applicants to confirm whether applied decorative elements are counted as logos under the code calculations.