Windsor advances ban on new billboards, pole and roof signs

The Windsor Town Board approved on first reading a sign-code overhaul that would ban new billboards, pole signs and roof signs.

Staff said a second reading was set for Nov. 9, with final adoption and implementation expected in December. Existing legal nonconforming signs could remain, but could not become more nonconforming. A sign damaged beyond 50% of its replacement cost would have to meet the new standards if an application to re-erect it were filed within six months of its destruction. A freestanding or building-mounted nonconforming sign would also need to be removed or replaced if a building renovation costs at least 50% of the building’s value or if the relevant use or property has been unused for 90 consecutive days, subject to the ordinance’s conditions.

Long Range Planner Kim Lambrecht said Windsor was revising its sign code to align it with state and federal law, including Reed v. the Town of Gilbert, and with the town’s Comprehensive Plan and small-town character. The proposal would regulate signs’ structures and physical features, such as size and illumination, rather than their messages. It would replace Chapter 15’s sign regulations and add definitions to Chapter 14 of Windsor’s municipal code.

A written sign-industry comment urged Windsor to loosen setbacks and allow digital displays to take up more than half of a sign’s area. Electronic message centers would be capped at 50% of the allowed area on freestanding signs or 20% on wall signs; affected signs would need to be at least 150 feet from residential zoning or development. Staff defended the 50% limit as fitting Windsor’s small-town character and pedestrian-scale signs: “It may be appropriate in other communities, but for Windsor we felt 50% was enough.” Staff said roadway classifications, distance from roads and easements left little flexibility for setbacks.

Miscellaneous signs would need no permit and could not be illuminated if their combined area stayed within one square foot per lot in single-family residential zones or two square feet per lot elsewhere. Portable signs would be capped at a combined six square feet per lot or parcel in residential-only zones and 12 square feet per use elsewhere; window signs would not count toward the 12-square-foot limit. Type II and type III yard signs would have no time limit, subject to limits per frontage. In residential zones, type III yard signs would be allowed only for multifamily or mixed-use developments.