BETHEL – Changes will be coming soon to the Big Apple Texaco gas station on Route 2 thanks to a Planning Board decision Wednesday on a sign application.

Michael Loin of Bertin Engineering Associates in Southbridge, Mass., applied to the board to change the Texaco Inc. sign to Shell Oil Co.

Loin said reasoning behind the change came three years ago when Shell bought out Texaco. Shell has since been working with sites in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts to change over the Texaco signage.

“If they’re not converted over, they’ll become Chevron (stations),” Loin told the board.

In 2001, the Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. merged, creating the ChevronTexaco Corp.

Loin said Shell would like to keep the Texaco single pole sign at 18 feet tall but reduce its width and light it externally from the top.

As for the present internally-lit Texaco canopy, Loin said Shell would change its colors to yellow with a red bar that would be externally backlit. It would also have 21.7-square-foot letters that say “Shell.”

The illumination would create a wash on the canopy itself.

“Our intent is to give the wash a uniform effect so that there are no bright spots. Only three sides of the canopy would have illumination,” Loin said.

Loin then resolved two remaining issues regarding sign setback from the road and the single post’s total height by agreeing to move the sign four feet away from Route 2 and dropping the single post from 18 to 16 feet for safety concerns.

Chairman Al Cressy then pointed out two waivers that would need to be required. According to Bethel’s sign ordinance, a sign can only be 60 square feet in size for a 45 mph speed zone. The other waiver involved the height of the freestanding pedestal sign.

“Shell has tried to meet our ordinance more than halfway by taking care of the internal illumination,” Cressy said. “However, the heighth and square footage are out of spec.”

But planners decided that since Shell had made concessions, they would grant waivers for the free-standing sign. The free-standing sign changes were approved by a 6-0 vote.

More debate continued over whether the external backlighting was actually internal illumination.

Loin, however, steadfastly maintained it was an external light source that creates a shadowing or glow effect on the canopy.

“Our intention is to shield the light source from neighboring sites,” he added.

Although Planner Sarah Tucker said the town doesn’t have anything in its ordinance that addresses back lighting, the board unanimously approved the canopy signage, tacking on a condition that it contain no supplementary lighting.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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