Are Bigger Signs Really Necessary?

Are you concerned about preserving the character of our town, curbing visual pollution or 'sign clutter' and keeping mammoth signs from encroaching on our roads?  If so, please speak up!

Westford is facing a crossroads regarding its visual appearance.  Cornerstone Square is proposing huge, colossal signs for its entrances, dramatically different in size and scope from anything else in town.  They dwarf the current Boch sign on Route 110 – in fact, they very nearly resemble billboards!  The largest sign [15 feet high x nearly 24 feet wide] is as wide as a 2-car garage or length of a 30-passenger school bus! 

Are 'super-sized' signs really attractive or more-effective?  Originally, Cornerstone was proposed as an upscale town center or ‘Lifestyle Center’ designed with New England traditional architecture in a contemporary Federalist style.  Monstrous signs, visually cluttered with a huge laundry list of shop names and logos, don’t support that vision and cheapen the look of our town!  They are totally inappropriate for the environment and character of Westford.

Other major upscale commercial developments have signs that are far more tasteful, refined or elegant.  Pheasant Lane, Wayside and Burlington Mall don’t clutter their signs with tenant names.  Neither do our Westford Valley Marketplace I and II and Westford Plaza, which all have simple entrance signs. 

Approving these signs could speed our town’s transformation and our roads’ mutation into another Route 1 Norwood or Route 9 Framingham:  screamingly-loud, visually-congested highways, bombarding drivers with cluttered, enormous & confusing signs.  This is NOT what Westford wants!

It’s quite clear from our Zoning Bylaw and Route 110 Master Plan, that Westford’s goals are to preserve its character and wants signs of acceptable size, scope and appearance that ‘fit-in’ with the surrounding community.  Massive billboards just do not fit in any way.

If you are concerned about stopping ‘super-sized’ signs from becoming permanent fixtures in town, voice your opinion at the Public Hearing – Monday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m., Town Hall, Room 201.