Palmer Raises the Roof on Billboards

The Tuesday night amended the zoning ordinance that limits the height of billboards.

The amendment is aimed at areas where the land on which the billboard sits is lower than the height of the roadway. The new zoning amendment will allow the top of the sign to be a maximum height of 35 feet above the grade of the highway.

Pennsylvania Venture Capital Inc. of Whitehall, which wants to erect a digital billboard in the township, withdrew its scheduled presentation to the zoning board last week. The company would have needed a variance because its billboard would stand higher and wider than allowed in the municipal code.

Cyndie Carmen, planning director for Palmer, said the issues Venture Capital had weren't the reason for amending the ordinance. However, the amendment will probably remove some of the obstacles the company was facing, she said.

Venture’s billboard would also encroach on a residential neighborhood. The company wants it on the northwest corner of Charlotte Avenue and Watson Street on the south side of Route 22.

Venture rescheduled its presentation to the for January.

The amendments also took into consideration the time a message could be displayed on a digital billboard. Commissioners decided that the message has to remain lit for a minimum of seven and a half seconds.

Regarding lighting, the zoning board recommended that the billboards be turned off from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. But Planning Commissioner Virginia Rickert said she thought that was a bad decision.

“I just thought it might stymie the number of people applying for them,” Rickert said.

She didn’t think people would want to pay for an advertisement that would be turned off for seven hours. Fellow commission members agreed, so they decided to approve the amendment with the stipulation that the digital signs be left on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.