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10/01/2024 12:58 PMDEEP RIVER
At its Sept. 19 meeting, the Deep River Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) adopted several new amendments to be integrated into town zoning laws concerning signage by local businesses and standards to protect the environment surrounding the Connecticut River.
The PZC initially adopted two of its own amendments concerning signage and exterior alterations to building designs for mixed-use and commercial establishments in Deep River’s Village District.
According to PZC Chair Tony Bolduc, the first adopted amendment, added to Section 13.7 in zoning regulations, was written to give more teeth to regulations concerning signage which would be posted by businesses, be it small or chain, located in Deep River.
“In our Village District, you have to get Design Advisory approval for signage, and our regulations were kind of lax there,” Bolduc explained to the Valley Courier.
Bolduc said that until recently, businesses looking to change their signs only required the initial approval for signage by the board, adding that “our regulations never required you to come back.”
The permitless alteration of the sign for the Dunkin’ on Main Street from a pale color to bright orange was cited as an example by Bolduc as a change unwanted by the town which could otherwise have been avoided by new regulations.
In effect, the amendment empowers the town’s Design Advisory Board with more oversight on posted signage, requiring more steps for a business which wishes to alter its signage in color and size. By requiring a business to return to the advisory if it is looking to change its signage, the board can better avoid the possibility of potential offensive imagery and language posted on signs.
Bolduc said this is something which was “happening previously.”
The second adopted amendment, added to Section 7A.5 Village District 7A.5.s, concerns “substantial alterations” such as exterior painting of commercial establishments. Bolduc said the regulation requires the same process for signage alterations as businesses must report to the Design Advisory Board when looking to paint a building facade with a new coat of paint.
A third amendment adopted by the PZC on Sept. 19 concerns regulations meant to protect the environment surrounding the Connecticut River. The first of these amendments feature multiple definitions and regulations which were already codified by the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Government’s (RiverCOG) Connecticut River Gateway Commission now added to Section 2 of Deep River’s zoning laws. These include definitions and laws for a “coastal jurisdiction line,” an “erosion and sedimentation control plan,” and building heights.
One of the most recent additions to the Gateway Commission’s own regulations—and now adopted by the Deep River PZC—is the definition for light pollution in the Gateway Conservation Zone. The zone is drawn out by RiverCOG’s narrowly mapped column which includes land along the Connecticut River at its center, stretching from East Haddam and southward throughout the rest of Middlesex County.
With this addition having been adopted last year, the commission’s definition reads, “Within the Gateway Conversation Zone, lighting of properties, including site lighting and the illumination of building facades and other architectural features, shall be the minimum necessary for health and safety. The purpose of this standard is to minimize the amount of artificial lighting emanating from Conservation Zone properties in a way that may contribute to light pollution.”
The effects of “excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive light from artificial sources,” as defined by the commission, have been a point of concern for residents during public hearings on potential new buildings in the Lower Connecticut River Valley, and are known to be disruptive to both human beings and wildlife cycles, according to the commission’s representatives.
Bolduc said that “everything would have to be dark-sky compliant” in Deep River because, “Lights can't shine onto the Connecticut River or neighbor’s properties.”