LED Sign At IHA Denied

Members of the township's Zoning Board rejected an application that would've placed an LED sign near the parking lot at . The 3-2 vote came after some neighboring residents expressed their concerns.

The school, which is in a residential zone, was seeking a variance to put up the sign to post school announcements and events to students, parents and the community. IHA's engineer Bruce Rigg addressed the Zoning Board and said that the informational sign would be far enough away from the street that it wouldn't have a great impact on the area.

But nearby residents disagreed. Ralf Schumann who lives on Van Emburgh Avenue near IHA said he was against the proposed sign. "We don't want any commercial signs there," he said. "There's a beautiful sign in front of the school that looks decent and it's not a loud thing that you can see from miles away."

Resident Katie Fisher, who brought a petition with neighbors' signatures, agreed. "We believe we have a very beautiful single family home neighborhood with the exception of the school," she said. "[The sign] should not be at the entrance of the school where people are going to be banging into each other. We don't need the extra aggravation and certainly the school doesn't either."

Rigg said the sign would be set back farther than the school building, 80 feet from the right of way as opposed to the school which is set back 67 feet. He said he doubted it would be a bother to motorists on Van Emburgh Avenue.

"Coming south I don't think anyone will see the sign," he said. "It's the best location for everyone to see it when they come in."

Rigg also said that the LED sign would have different levels of illumination which would be adjusted depending on the time of day.

IHA Principal Patricia Molloy said that although the specifics of illumination times were not yet discussed, she estimated it would be turned on around 7 a.m. and turned off around 8:30 or 9 p.m. "We have no interest wasting electricity," she said.

Zoning Board member Laura Merkle was concerned with the application, saying she wondered why the sign needed to be placed in the chosen location, especially considering a tree had to be removed to do so. Rigg explained that the tree was being removed to put the sign further from the street and said the school would be willing to replace the tree.

Merkle also pointed out that the Westwood Regional School District doesn't use LED signs for their schools so she didn't know why it was necessary to have at IHA. 

Vice Chairman Richard Miras, who said he favored the variance, suggested the board ask the  for input about how the sign might impact traffic, but the majority voted against that proposal. The request for the variance was also rejected.

HOW THE ZONING BOARD VOTED ON IHA APPLICATION: