1. The purpose of these standards. The purpose of these standards is to provide a coordinated, uniform and consistent approach for the review by the agency of signs proposed to be erected or maintained onsite in association with projects subject to agency jurisdiction, taking into consideration the natural, scenic, aesthetic and open space resources sought to be protected by the statutes the agency administers.

2. Application of these standards. These standards shall govern the agency in its review of all private signs associated with projects subject to agency jurisdiction which are proposed to be erected or maintained onsite in association with such activities as business, commercial, industrial and tourist, including but not limited to automobile service stations, junkyards, mineral extraction uses and structures, public and private sand and gravel pits, tourist accommodations, tourist attractions, residential subdivisions, campgrounds, trailer parks and mobile home courts.

Off-premises signs are regulated by the Adirondack Park sign law, administered by the Department of Environmental Conservation pursuant to ECL 9-0305 and 6 NYCRR Part 195. If an off-premises sign is also subject to agency jurisdiction, the agency shall apply the standards of this appendix as well as those applicable under 6 NYCRR Part 195.

3. Definitions. (a) Sign means any sign, billboard, advertising structure or inscribed surface, pattern of artificial lighting, pictorial or symbolic ornament, emblematic structure, banner, fluttering apparatus, statue, model, ornamental figure or other visually communicative or expressive device that is visible from an out-of-doors position and is used to advertise or call the public's attention to any business, commercial, industrial, tourist or any other activity, object for sale or lease, person or place, or to bear any kind of message. It includes any surface on which a name, text, device, signal, ornament, logotype or advertising matter is made visible. The meaning of sign shall also include any sign currently in disuse but still visible from an out-of-doors position, and any frame or support structure erected specifically to bear or uphold a sign. The meaning of sign shall not include any sign erected by the Federal, State, county or local government or any department or agency thereof, any poster placed temporarily to advertise a civic event or an event sponsored by a house of worship, school, library, museum, social club or society, or any patriotic flag or banner not used for commercial advertising purposes. The meaning of sign shall also not include any sign having a sign area no greater than three square feet that is used simply to mark property boundaries, give directions regarding roads or trails, exclude hunting, fishing, or other activities, warn of any hazard or condition; if for a residence, denote the name and address of the occupants of the premises on which the sign is located, or advertise the availability of the premises or some portion thereof for sale or lease.

(b) Sign area means the total area of all faces or surfaces of a sign anywhere upon which writing or any illustrative, emblematic or other artistic or expressive matter appears; or, in cases where writing or illustrative, emblematic, or other artistic or expressive matter is not set against any face or surface, the total area within a single continuous rectangular perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of such writing or illustrative, emblematic or other artistic or expressive matter. The sign area of a sign having more than one face or surface on which writing or illustrative, emblematic or other artistic or expressive matter appears shall be the total area of all such faces or surfaces; but if a sign consists of two such faces or surfaces placed back to back, the sign area of the side having the greater sign area shall constitute the total sign area. The sign area of a group of connected or related signs shall be the sum of the sign areas of the signs belonging to it.

(c) Erect means to build, construct, alter, enlarge, relocate, attach, hang, place, affix or maintain any sign, and includes the painting of wall signs.

(d) Luminous sign means an incandescent or other sign which gives forth its own light, or any transparent or translucent sign through which artificial light is emitted, including, without limitation, any neon sign, fluorescent sign or advertising light display.

(e) Level of natural ground means the level of ground prior to any grading or fill done primarily for the purpose of erecting any sign or raising the level of a sign's allowable height.

4. Number of signs. (a) Not more than two signs may be erected or maintained advertising or otherwise relating to a single business or activity, except for directional signs that do not exceed two square feet in sign area and are limited to such texts as “Office”, “Entrance”, “Exit”, “Parking”, and “No Parking”.

(b) Not more than one pole sign may be erected or maintained upon the premises of any gasoline or other automotive service station.

5. Design and location of signs. (a) No sign shall be illuminated by or contain flashing, intermittent, rotating or moving light or lights. All luminous signs, indirectly illuminated signs and lighting devices shall employ only lights emitting light of constant intensity.

(b) No luminous sign, indirectly illuminated sign or lighting device shall be placed or directed so as to cause glaring or non-diffuse beams of light to be cast upon any public street, highway, sidewalk or adjacent premises, or otherwise to cause glare or reflection that may constitute a traffic hazard or nuisance. No sign shall in its construction employ any mirror or mirror-like surface, nor any day-glowing or other fluorescent paint or pigment.

(c) No sign or part thereof shall contain or consist of any banner, pennant, ribbon, streamer, spinner or other similar moving, fluttering or revolving device. Such devices, as well as strings of lights, shall not be used for advertising or attracting attention whether or not they are part of any sign. No sign or part thereof may rotate or move back and forth.

(d) No sign shall contain any neon or similar lighting.

(e) No sign shall be placed upon or be supported by any water body or any tree, rock or other natural object rather than the ground.

(f) No sign shall be erected or maintained upon the roof of any building or structure.

(g) No motor vehicle on which is placed, or painted, any sign intending to advertise the premises subject to agency jurisdiction shall be parked or stationed on such premises in a manner primarily intended to display the sign.

(h) No sign shall project more than three feet from the wall of any building, nor shall any sign project from the roof of any building or into any public way.

(i) No sign shall be erected or maintained within the right-of-way, nor within 10 feet of the roadbed of any public street or highway; nor shall any sign exceeding 20 square feet in the sign area be erected or maintained within 20 feet of the roadbed of any public street or highway; provided, however, that these minimum setback distances shall not apply to signs erected upon any building entirely housing the business or activity with which the signs are principally associated. For the purposes of this provision, the roadbed shall mean the trafficable portion of a road, street, or highway, bounded on either side by the outer edge of the shoulder or guardrail, whichever extends farthest. Where there is no shoulder or guardrail, there shall be deemed to be a shoulder extending four feet from the outer edge of the pavement or unpaved traffic lanes.

(j) No sign shall be erected or maintained more than 200 feet from the business or activity with which it is principally associated. For the purposes of this provision, the location of a business or activity shall include all of the principal private access road connecting the actual place of that business or activity with a public street or highway.

(k) No sign shall be erected or maintained in a location primarily directed at travelers upon the Adirondack Northway (Interstate Route 87).

6. Size, height and components of signs. (a) No sign shall be erected or maintained having a sign area greater than 40 square feet. No luminous sign shall be erected or maintained having a sign area greater than 15 square feet.

(b) If two signs are erected or maintained with respect to a given activity, the total sign area of the two signs shall not exceed 60 square feet.

(c) No pole sign erected or maintained upon the premises of any gasoline or other automotive service station shall have a sign area greater than 15 square feet.

(d) No sign shall exceed 20 feet in overall height, measured from the highest level of natural ground immediately beneath the sign to the highest point of the sign or the supporting structure thereof.

(e) Signs shall be made of stone, brick and wood, shall be simple in design and color scheme and shall contain a minimal number of component parts.

7. Number of permitted signs where more than one principal activity is being conducted. Notwithstanding the standard governing the number of signs permitted to be erected or maintained on any parcel of real property set forth in section 4 hereof, the following standards shall guide the agency in its review of all private signs associated with projects described in section 2 hereof when more than one principal activity is proposed to be conducted on a separate and discrete basis upon the parcel of real property associated with the project, such as in the case of a shopping center or other multiple commercial use facility.

(a) A single free-standing sign not in excess of 40 square feet in sign area or more than 20 feet in height may be erected identifying the center or facility as a whole, but shall not contain advertising matter.

(b) One individual wall sign not in excess of 30 square feet in sign area may be erected for each separate principal activity, such as a shop or store.

(c) An overall sign design plan for any such center or facility subject to agency regional project review jurisdiction shall be required, which shall include the sign design plan or plans for each principal activity therein, and shall reflect a reasonable uniformity of design, lettering, lighting and material.

8. Nonconforming signs. If a regional project subject to Adirondack Park Agency review is proposed for a parcel of real property upon which an existing sign is located, and the said existing sign is associated with the principal activity which is the subject of the proposed project but does not conform to these standards, the agency may require that the said non-conforming sign be brought into compliance herewith within a reasonable period of time, not to exceedsix years. Such requirement that the non-conforming sign be brought into compliance herewith may entail the compulsory elimination of the sign upon the termination of a period calculated to be the remaining economic life thereof based upon actual depreciation schedules, but in any event not to exceed six years.

9. Residential and other nonbusiness uses. In the case of residential uses and other nonbusiness-oriented uses, the agency will apply these private sign standards, except that only one sign may be erected or maintained upon a parcel of real property, the sign area may not exceed eight square feet, and the overall height of the sign may not exceed six feet.