Archive: Opinions

Lately it seems like Lansing is butting heads... with Lansing.  Lansing has a long time Libertarian tradition of keeping regulation to a minimum.  But some people want more regulation.  And some people even want a lot more.  More regulation could turn out to be a good thing, within reason.  Determining the boundaries of that reason is the challenge.

The controversy over the sign law is a good illustration.  As written it allows fairly good sized signs just about anywhere in town.  At Wednesday's Town Board meeting many residents said they want the residential sign size cap to be lowered from it's current 32 square feet.  I think it should be a lot less.  And the regulations should define a lot more.

Maybe it's my quaint view of small town America or my training as a designer, but I think home business signs in residential neighborhoods should all look the same.  They should have decorative posts (like really nice looking mailbox posts) and a small envelope shaped sign with the name of the business stenciled onto it.  Every residential business sign in town should be the same size, shape and color, and use the same font.

Why?  Because attractive uniform signs on residential streets will help lend a consistant, low-key and attractive personality to the town.  Signs like this help define a town and engender an expectation of classy activity.  The attractiveness of the signs is important because it enhances the neighborhood, rather than haphazard signs that are visual tears in the paper of a neighborhood.  And it lends a kind of legitimacy to the businesses they identify.

Code Enforcement Officer Lynn Day suggested something similar for a handful of way-finding signs he proposed to the Town Board at the end of last year.  He proposed signs with a stack of slab-signs that would point the way to local businesses and landmarks.  The design idea was simple, but would be attractive without being obtrusive.

That is a really good idea.  On the one hand we want signs, because they tell us we came to the right place.  Or how to get to the right place.  Or which place is the right place.  On the other hand, when everyone has their own idea of what a sign should look like you end up with a haphazard mix- and- doesn't- really- match hodgepodge of clashing designs or signs that are just plain ugly.

Sound familiar?  That's what most people complain about when they talk about all the ugly business buildings that dot the town.  One looks like this and the next looks like that. Sometimes even attractive plus attractive equals ugly when they visually clash.  It's why some people are talking about a unified design for a new retail area if the town center ever comes to be.


There is still some Libertarian in me: I think existing signs that were permitted should be grandfathered into whatever new law finally goes on the books.  But eventually, if we are smart about it, we will have well defined, attractive neighborhoods that allow for home businesses without turning them into strips of overt commercial activity.

The Village of Lansing is a lesson the Town would do well not to ignore.  Sure, it has become very good at regulating development, signage, lighting, and so on.  But the cow left the barn long before they got good at it.  It takes a village, right, but there wasn't any Village before the Ithaca Mall was constructed.  By the time there was a functioning one they ended up with a mash of a business and retail area, but no central defining village center like Dryden, Groton and Trumansburg have.  Those communities have well defined centers that immediately let you know you are in a community.  You feel like you are somewhere.  Not in the middle of anywhere.  The Village of Lansing doesn't have that.  Neither does the Town, although the proposed town center certainly has the potential to achieve it.

Design is important in defining a town or a village.  Can you find the community in the Town or the Village of Lansing?  I can't.  But I'd like to.  Without more regulation of design issues, we never will.

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