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Danville board debates vinyl window clings and sign‑maker role as it rewrites downtown sign guidelines
Summary
Board members discussed proposed design‑guideline changes to reduce COA requirements for small, temporary window signs while preserving the district’s character; staff flagged a pending appeal over a large vinyl window cling and suggested limiting COAs for small clings under a threshold.
Board members and staff discussed a draft approach to downtown sign guidelines intended to clarify what constitutes temporary signage and to reduce the need for a full Certificate of Appropriateness hearing for small window clings. The conversation followed an ongoing appeal involving a large vinyl cling that staff said was not part of the original COA and that has been denied in precedent cases for other applicants.
Staff said the aim is to allow administrative review for small, non‑permanent window treatments — for example those that are replaced monthly — and to reserve COA hearings for more substantial or permanent changes that affect more than a set portion of a storefront window (staff mentioned 25% of the window as a working threshold). The director asked the board for guidance to produce a draft by mid‑May.
Board members debated how to promote compliance: some recommended sending the new guidelines to local sign companies with a request they inform customers when a design would be non‑compliant; others raised enforcement and permitting mechanics, noting that in Danville the building/business owner signs the permit application.
A board member with decades of sign‑design experience suggested circulating the guidelines to sign shops so they can advise customers about conformity, while staff emphasized the limits of the board’s enforcement authority and the practical challenges of holding out‑of‑area sign vendors to local standards.
The board did not adopt a final new rule at the meeting but directed staff to continue drafting the guidelines, consult with sign vendors and aim to reduce unnecessary COA hearings for small, temporary window treatments.
