Council members in Monroeville heard more than two hours' testimony Thursday night about five proposed billboards along the Parkway East that would be more than four times the current municipal size limit.
Interstate Outdoor Advertising of Cherry Hill, N.J. and Right Angle Media of Churchville are requesting approval to allow for signage not to exceed 700 square feet. The five proposed billboards would be 672 square-feet, or 14 feet tall by 48 feet wide..
The companies are also requesting a special overlay district for outdoor advertising that is made up of three parcels on which the signs could be built.
Currently, Monroeville’s zoning ordinance allows for signs up to 150 square-feet.
The two companies, which are working together, would like to build five two-sided billboards along the Parkway East in Monroeville. The signs would consist of a mixture of electronic or LED signs and static or vinyl signs.
Raymond Hoehler of the law firm of Cohen and Grigsby, representing Interstate Outdoor Advertising, called several witnesses during the public hearing.
Jeffrey Gerber, CEO of Interstate Outdoor Advertising, testified that if approved, there would be a mixture of four digital signs and six static. The digital sign’s messages would change about every eight seconds. The static signs would have three 100 watt LED light bulbs for illumination.
Mark Ciufo, zoning officer for Monroeville, stated the “underlying zoning does not have to be changed to accommodate a billboard,” as the parcels are located in the C-2 commercial, M1 and M2 industrial zoning districts, which currently permit billboards.
“There’s no rezoning here,” Mr. Ciufo said.
The properties identified by the applicants include 1.3 acres along Thompson Run Road owned by Union Railroad Company; 3.833 acres along William Penn Highway owned by Smith RH, formerly a site of the Vocollect company; and 10.064 acres along Harper Drive owned by Duquesne Light Company. The billboards would not take up the entire portion of those parcels.
Resident Janice Olshesky said she was concerned about drivers becoming distracted by looking at the billboards, especially the electronic ones.
“Who can say how many times you are actually looking at the sign driving down there?” she asked.
Hal Simoff of Simoff Engineering of Chatham Township, N.J., a traffic engineer witness called by Mr. Hoehler, said studies show that drivers who glance at billboards do so for about one-third of a second. He added that studies also point out that anything more than two seconds is considered a distraction.
“It’s clearly not in the realm of being a traffic hazard,” Mr. Simoff said of the billboards.
Resident Robert Serafini asked how the signs would benefit Monroeville.
“There are no taxes derived from any of these signs,” he said. “Why the heck would you want to just screw up the whole countryside with these signs? They distract from the beauty of the ground,” he said.
If approved, Interstate Outdoor Advertising and Right Angle Media would have to submit site plans for each billboard.
Three signs are proposed for the Duquesne Light property and one sign each is proposed for the Union Railroad Company parcel and the Smith parcel.
First Published: January 9, 2015, 5:52 a.m.
