More Questions After Test Of LED Signs At Holmdel's Bell Works

HOLMDEL, NJ — Planning Board officials and residents ventured to Bell Works Thursday night to see a developer's demonstration of how proposed LED entrance signs would look if approved and installed.

The owner of Bell Works, Somerset Holmdel Development, is seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval with variance relief to amend three Bell Works logo entrance monument signs to LED digital monument signs advertising businesses there.

The developer on Thursday provided a printout that explained the basic parameters of the lighting proposal: "During daylight hours, the screens are set between 80 percent to 100 percent brightness. At sunset, the screens are set to reduce to 20 percent brightness," the information read.

It noted that light for the demonstration was measured on-site on July 19. Sunset was 8:23 p.m. and readings were taken between 9:10 p.m. and 9:47 p.m. With measurements in fc's (footcandles); the brightness settings all fell under the "applicable" standards of .3 fc or less, the developer said.

Residents - many of whom live at Regency at Holmdel (Toll Brothers) adjacent to Bell Works at 101 Crawfords Corner Road - were told in advance they could not ask questions or comment during the demonstration.

But afterward they gathered and spoke among themselves, and they expressed continuing concerns about the proposed lights that would replace the internally lit black and white Bell Works signs at the three main entrances to the former Bell Labs site.

Bell Works is a space developed from the original Bell Labs that now provides office space but also space for entertainment, clothing and food retailers, a children's school and the Holmdel Library.

Somerset President Ralph Zucker said at a past hearing that the retailers need more exposure to the public to generate business, hence the signs. You can read about that hearing here.

And the farsighted "metroburb" concept for Bell Works is seen as a success story for the township.

The proposed signs, however, are giving Bell Works fans pause.

Some residents last night said the demonstrated light changes showed lighting that was still too bright at night - even at 20 percent, and could reduce a driver's night vision.

They said the LED screens, which will show a series of ads every 10 seconds for Bell Works retailers, were distracting for drivers along the winding country roads in the area. Yet despite the brightness, the signs didn't seem that legible or useful for retailers, they said.

Resident Dianne Devine expressed reservations about the lights - but she also said she and others want Bell Works to succeed.

"We're neighbors - I want to be sensitive to their needs," she said.

Devine said she is interested in facts, so she had requested information on the application through the Open Public Records Act. One of the documents she shared with Patch is from the Holmdel Environmental Commission.

The letter from the commission to the Planning Board, dated May 1, says the commission recommends against the granting of the variance, saying it is "out of character with the area and a roadway distraction.

Based on the plans submitted to the Planning Board, the commission said "If the proposed signs are similar in brightness to those on the Bell Works interior roadways, they will be inappropriately bright for their proposed locations. In particular, the sign and the light at the eastern location on Crawfords Corner Road will be visible from several nearby homes and impact quality of life for the residents, who will experience them as light pollution.

"Besides being bright, the signs will show a multicolored and changeable picture, which is even more problematic than a simple and stable image. The proposed signs are advertisements for the individual businesses located at Bell Works; they are commercial rather than informational and thus not suitable for this location, which is immediately opposite a residential area.

"Because the proposed signs are somewhat larger and brighter than the current ones, and because their contents are more complicated and potentially changeable, they will create a distraction for drivers on this curvy and busy section of Crawfords Corner Road, precisely where the entrances and exits of Bell Works demand driver focus. Furthermore, there are school bus stops in this section, making it even more important that drivers are not distracted," the commission letter states.

The public hearing on the plans will continue on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. The hearing in June brought out about 150 people to the meeting.

Township planner Kate Keller on Friday explained the current dimensions of the signs as proposed. The three double-sided signs would be at the Crawfords Corner and Middletown Road entrances. Keller said:

• The applicant agreed at the first hearing that the proposed signs would be the same height as the existing entrance signs - 10 feet tall. The width is proposed to slightly decrease from 80 inches to 78.75 inches.
• The existing digital signs on the property were approved to be 60.5 square feet. The new entrance signs would be approximately 65 square feet, she said in an email.
• She cited an applicable lighting ordinance: "Light intensity shall not exceed 0.1 footcandle at any residential property line or 0.3 footcandle along any other property line."

The township has the documentation for the proposal on its website.

At the Sept 19 hearing, the public will be able to ask questions of the applicant's professionals, Keller said. Before the Planning Board votes, the public will also have a chance to provide testimony and comments for the record, she said.