Advisory board urges landlords to file complete master sign plans after multiple incomplete submissions

Commissioners repeatedly flagged incomplete or missing master sign plans for multi‑tenant buildings during the April 28 meeting, and they instructed applicants and landlords to supply consolidated site plans showing the location of every proposed sign.

Robert Grid (agent for several properties) presented materials for 28B Easy Street and for the Straight Wharf courtyard but staff and members could not find a formal master sign plan in the digital files. Commissioners said a master sign plan should include a labeled site plan (sign A, B, C, D) indicating approved and proposed placements so future tenants know permitted locations and styles.

The board declined to treat existing, unapproved signs as automatically approvable under a newly filed master sign plan. Commissioners emphasized that a master sign plan should set the standard for future tenants and, where appropriate, require removal or modification of nonconforming signs. For 28B Easy Street the advisory committee approved a hanging sign at a previously reviewed location but held the overall master sign plan for revisions; the applicant agreed to withdraw vinyl letter applications that staff found inconsistent with the sign book.

For the courtyard at 16 Straight Wharf, commissioners said they were not prepared to approve additional projecting signs until the landlord (NIR) and tenants had a coordinated master sign plan; the committee voted to hold that application for an on‑site viewing and to ask the landlord to file a complete plan that accounts for existing approved and unapproved signage.

Next steps: staff will request clearly labeled site plans from agents and landlords and expect master sign plans to indicate which previously approved signs remain, which must be modified, and where new projecting or hanging signs would be permitted.