Union, NY Sign Regulations: Freeway-Facing Signs (2026)

Section 300-52.6(C), added by Local Law No. 3-2020 on 4-1-2020, is the Town of Union's rule for freeway-facing off-premises signs. Subsection C(1) confines off-premises signs, digital and nondigital, to the General Commercial and Industrial Zoning Districts, excluding the Villages of Johnson City and Endicott, and to a distance of not greater than 500 feet of the right-of-way of NYS Route 17/Interstate 86. The code defines a billboard in § 300-70.2 as a sign that directs attention to a business, product or activity neither sold, located nor offered upon the property where the sign sits.

Fees are printed in C(1): a one-time $12,500 for each new digital sign and $1,250 for each new nondigital sign. An applicant who permanently removes existing nonconforming off-premises signs at a ratio of two to one, with the two signs totaling at least 75% of the square footage of the new sign, pays $6,250 for each new digital sign and $625 for each new nondigital sign. Yearly license fees under C(2) are $50 for a static sign larger than 55 square feet and $25 for a static sign of 55 square feet or smaller, for static signs not already licensed by a Village or other government entity.

Spacing and size limits follow. C(3) allows no more than one off-premises sign on a lot or parcel. C(4) bars a sign within 500 feet of another off-premises sign facing the same direction, within 100 feet of any residential zoning district boundary, or within 500 feet of the property line of a public or parochial school, library, church, hospital or similar institutional use fronting on the same street. C(5) caps a nondigital sign at 300 square feet and 35 feet in height above the elevation of the nearest highway shoulder, with a minimum setback of eight feet from any property line.