Fresh off its informal working session, the Westford Planning Board undertook once again the arduous task of amending the section of town’s Zoning Bylaws that deals with sign regulations.

Director of Land Use Management Chris Kluchman provided the Board with a revised amendment that incorporated comments from the working session meeting.

A common theme of the revision process has been how best to manage the advertising needs of the business community with the town’s desire to maintain a certain character common to Westford along with safety and visibility aspects.

Under the proposed amendment, the size of wall signs will decrease from one and a half times the square footage of linear building frontage to being equal to the square footage of linear building frontage.

Kluchman noted the potential to cause objection from some business owners as many offices along Route 110 have “personal services” businesses as opposed to retail so proper signage is crucial to their advertising.

Vice Chairman Mike Green said he’s fine with the wall sign reduction but he wants the maximum height of wall signs to remain six feet.

Though the Board is in full agreement that setting a specific criteria that allows the approval process to be streamlined administratively is a necessity, ironing out certain aspects of the criteria continues to prove challenging as Town Meeting, scheduled for March 23, looms.

Formal discussion of the sign regulations will continue at the March 18 Planning Board hearing.  For more information about the sign bylaws, visit the town's website.