Beverly To Host Walking Tour, Public Forum On Proposed Sign Ordinance

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly residents are invited to take part in a public forum and walking tour on Wednesday as part of the city Department of Planning and Community Development's plan to update the city's sign ordinance.

The ordinance includes the procedure for permitting review and approval.

The goal of the project is to engage community stakeholders, conduct an audit of existing conditions and permitting/approval practices, and ultimately update the sign ordinance to: reflect the most up-to-date case law, streamline the permitting and review process make it easier for businesses to understand requirements, and allow for creativity and emerging technologies in sign design.

A $50,000 state Housing Choice Grant is being used to complete the work.

City staff and a team of UMass-Boston graduate students assisting with the project want to hear from residents at the two events scheduled for Wednesday.

The public walking tour will be held from 2:30-3:30 p.m. to look at downtown signage. The walking tour will start at the City Hall lawn (191 Cabot Street) and is a 1.1-mile loop.

The tour will include short stops along the route from City Hall, Cabot to Railroad Ave to Rantoul Street to Pond to Cabot Street and back to City Hall. The walk is planned to be approximately one hour and anyone can join or leave at any time.

The open house will be at the new BevCam Downtown location at 261 Cabot Street from 6 to 8 p.m. The city will be hosting a virtual tour with interactive "stations" showing imagery of signage from Beverly Farms, North Beverly, Rantoul Street, and Cabot Street.

Historical photos of signage from our City archives will also be shown. Light refreshments will be
available.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)