Mendon zoning panel to update general plan and draft sign ordinance as town eyes small-scale commercial growth

Mendon planning and zoning members spent their most recent meeting reviewing the city's general plan and beginning work on a sign ordinance meant to guide future small-scale commercial growth.

S1, who opened the discussion, said the city must prepare rules now so projects routed from the county or state will be subject to Mendon's standards. "If we didn't have anything in writing, we might not be able to say no," S1 said, urging commissioners to codify sign height, lighting, allowable locations and hours for sign illumination.

Commissioners discussed two categories of signs: on-premise signs for local businesses and off-premise billboards. S1 and S4 emphasized that billboards should be restricted in residential and agricultural corridors, with S1 adding, "No billboards. This is a residential and agricultural area, so we're not allowing billboards anywhere between here and that highway or here and Wellsville." S5, a business owner speaking to the commission, supported smaller ground-level signs and recommended setting lumen limits: "I don't want any billboard signs personally," S5 said, while also urging the commission to ensure businesses can be found by customers.

The group debated aesthetic standards and whether to require a cohesive, "rural" design in some parts of town. Commissioners noted the need to balance visibility for businesses with protections for neighboring homes; S1 suggested treating billboards differently from on-premise signage and including time-of-day lighting restrictions and noise prohibitions in the ordinance.

S1 framed the sign work as part of a larger general-plan update that will also address where limited commercial development should be permitted. Commissioners agreed to review the sign chapter and bring suggested edits to a January work session, after the City Council names its general-plan committee.