Princeton Hires Consultants To Advise On New Sign Ordinance

PRINCETON, NJ — The Council recently adopted a resolution to hire consultants LRK Inc. For the development of a new signage ordinance.

This has been in the planning stages for nearly a decade.

The agreement is not to exceed $55,000.

The primary purpose of the project is to “streamline, refine, and update the signage regulations into a reorganized and consolidated signage ordinance, supplemented with illustrative design guidelines.”

Councilwoman Mia Sacks noted that the project was long overdue. She thanked architect Joshua ZInder for “laying the foundation” for the work the Municipality will now undertake.

"We are so fortunate in Princeton that we have professionals who command respect all around the state for their work, and in this case, Josh Zinder has saved the town a lot of money by doing the bulk of the work,” Sacks said. “Now, LRK is just going to connect the dots.”

Zinder said his office did an in-depth review of the matter which included a study. This eventually led to the creation of the ordinance.

“I’m pleased to see the town is taking this critical issue to the business community and to the architectural landscape seriously and hiring Looney Ricks Kiss (LRK) to update our ordinances to reflect the town we live in today and not the landscape of 1973 and ‘74, which is when the ordinances were originally created,” Zinder said.

Under the contract, LRK will review the existing signage regulations and, under the guidance of municipal staff, create a new and consolidated signage ordinance and develop design guidelines.

“These new regulations will be user-friendly and graphically illustrated with three-dimensional models, diagrams and optional precedent photographs to allow for an easier understanding of the Municipality’s signage requirements for residents and businesses,” Planning Director Justin Lesko told Council in a memo.

The work will be done in three phases:

• Phase I: Diagnostic review of existing signage regulations and an outline of a suggested ordinance structure with basic illustrations
• Phase II: Development of a preliminary draft signage ordinance
• Phase III: Final draft of the signage ordinance and design guidelines

The draft ordinance is expected to be ready early next year.

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