Wakefield City Zoning Code

Access. All required parking or loading areas shall have access either directly from a public way or through any of the Business or Industrial Districts (as set forth in § 190-9) and not through a Residential District.

Screening. All required parking or loading areas in any district shall be screened in accordance with § 190-33.

Illumination. All illumination of required parking and loading areas shall be continuous light installed and shielded in such a manner that will prevent direct light from shining upon any other property in a Residence District.

Fractions. Where the computation of required spaces results in a fractional number, the next larger whole number shall be used.

Joint parking lot. The aggregate number of spaces required for each of several uses separately may be provided on a common parking lot serving all of these uses, and, where it can be demonstrated that the combined peak parking needs of all the uses sharing the lot will, because of differences in peak hours or days, be less than the aggregate normally required for each use separately, the number of parking spaces to be provided may be reduced accordingly.

Change of use. Where a nonconforming use is increased in area or changed to a use requiring more parking or loading than the present use according to the tables below, additional spaces shall be provided in the amount necessary so that said expansion or change in use will not result in any increased violation of the requirements of this section.

Change to building or lot. Any spaces lost by exterior alteration of a nonconforming building shall be replaced by the same number or by enough to make up the total number required by the tables below for the use, whichever is less.

Parking Exemption for Small Establishment. Off-street parking space shall not be required for nonresidential uses when the computed requirement results in four spaces or fewer for all the nonresidential uses on the lot.

Sidewalk cafes with less than 10 seats are exempt from off-street parking requirements.

Unless authorized by special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, which may permit a driveway of no more than 40 feet, driveways serving parking facilities shall not exceed 30 feet in width at the street line and shall not be spaced closer than 100 feet to another driveway serving the same lot.

No driveway shall have an average gradient of more than 10% over the 40 feet thereof adjacent to the point where such driveway meets the street. See § 190-33Q below for common driveways.

Common driveways shall provide access to not more than four lots.

Common driveways shall be not less than 16 feet in width, with center line and curb radii adequate for fire and other emergency vehicles.

The maximum length of a common driveway shall be 400 feet (measured along its center line from its intersection with the side line of a street to the most distant point on its turnaround).

The grade of any common driveway shall not exceed 10% and shall not exceed 5% within 40 feet of its street intersection. With the approval of the SPGA as specified above, short sections may exceed 10% but in no event shall any section exceed 13%.

Street addresses for all premises on a common driveway shall be posted in a manner sufficient for public safety purposes both at the intersection of the common driveway and the street and at the intersection of the common driveway and each individual driveway.

An agreement providing access over the common driveway to all lots and making all lots served by the common driveway jointly responsible for its maintenance and repair, including snowplowing, shall be recorded at the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds. Evidence of the recording shall be submitted to the Building Inspector prior to the issuance of a building permit for any lot served by the common driveway.

The SPGA shall require engineered plans for the driveways and related drainage and also security for their completion unless it deems plans or security to be unnecessary in an unusual case. Design and construction shall be consistent with the requirements of the Subdivision Regulations of the Wakefield Planning Board, except as may otherwise be authorized by the SPGA.

Loading spaces, maneuvering areas and access drives shall be designed so that they do not constitute a nuisance or a hazard or unreasonable impediment to traffic on public ways or in parking lots open to the public.

Each required loading space shall be no less than 12 feet in width, 14 feet in height and 30 feet in length in a Business District and 50 feet in length in an Industrial District, exclusive of drives and maneuvering space, and such space, including necessary maneuvering areas, shall be entirely on the lot being served.

Loading spaces may be enclosed in a structure and shall be so enclosed if located within 50 feet of a Residential District where the use involves regular night operation.

All driveways, entranceways and loading areas shall be graded, surfaced and drained to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works and to the extent necessary to prevent nuisances of dust, erosion or excessive water flow across public ways.

To restrict private signs which overload the public's capacity to receive information, which violate privacy or which increase the probability of accidents by distracting attention or obstructing vision.

To encourage signing and other private communications which aid orientation, identify activities, express local history and character or serve other educational purposes.

To reduce conflict among private signs and between the private and public environmental information systems.

Flags and insignia of any government, except when displayed in connection with commercial promotion.

Legal notices or informational devices erected or required by public agencies.

Integral decorative or architectural features of buildings, except letters, trademarks, moving parts or parts internally illuminated or decorated with gaseous tube or other lights.

On awnings or similar devices, lettering not exceeding three inches in height or symbols; together they cannot exceed four square feet in area.

Nonprofit religious organizations and schools and public uses shall not be subject to this section but are requested to use it as a guide to their use of signs, in the public interest.

Interior signs. Except as specifically included under window signs, signs wholly within a building shall not be governed by this section.

Gasoline pumps. A standard type of gasoline pump, bearing thereon in usual size and form the name of the type of gasoline and the price thereof, shall not be deemed to be a sign. Temporary or movable signs of any and every type are specifically prohibited, with the exception of signs designating state motor vehicle inspection locations.

General applicability. All new or reconstructed or renovated signs shall conform to the provisions of this section, except as specifically exempted from Town bylaws by the Massachusetts General Laws, as amended. No person shall erect, display or maintain a billboard, sign or other advertising device (nonaccessory sign) within the Town, except those specifically exempt under state law or as otherwise provided for hereinafter. The provisions of this § 190-34 shall not apply in the Signage Overlay District, set forth at § 190-50 of this chapter.

Nonconforming signs. A nonconforming sign is any sign which does not conform to the regulations of this section. Any nonconforming sign legally erected prior to the adoption of this section or any amendment hereto may be continued to be used and maintained but shall not be enlarged, reduced, redesigned or altered in any way unless it conforms to the provisions contained herein. Rewording of a sign is allowed except when there is a change of use. Any sign which has been destroyed or damaged to the extent that the cost of repair or restoration will exceed 80% of the replacement value as of the date of destruction shall not be repaired, rebuilt, restored or changed unless in conformity with this section. This provision shall not apply to any sign which has been abandoned (not used for six months or more) or which shall not have been repaired or properly maintained within 60 days after notice to that effect has been given by the Building Inspector.

Signs under construction. Any sign, the erection of which has been lawfully begun and carried on in good faith before this section becomes operative, may be completed according to laws and regulations then in force but shall conform hereto as far as practicable without hardship. If such sign does not conform to the provisions of this section it shall be classified as a nonconforming sign.

A sign accessory to a nonconforming use when the nonconforming use has been abandoned or the advertised use has been discontinued for two years.

A sign erected after adoption of this section which, because of a change in the type of occupancy or because of non-use of the premises for six successive months, ceases to refer to a business conducted or product sold on the premises, unless such a sign has been altered so as to again be accessory to the premises.

The Building Inspector may cause to be removed any sign that endangers public safety.

For each residential building housing not more than two families, there may be one such sign for each residence. Such sign shall not exceed one square foot.

For each residential building housing more than two families or, in the case of a group of such buildings forming a single housing establishment, with each such establishment there may be one primary sign which shall not exceed three square feet and one secondary sign for each separate building in a group of such buildings which shall not exceed one square foot.

During construction there may be one temporary, unlighted sign on each lot advertising the sale or rental of the premises or the name and address of the contractor responsible for any construction, painting or repair, provided that such sign shall not exceed nine square feet in area and shall be removed within 14 days after such sale, rental or construction, painting or repair has been completed.

There may be one temporary unlighted sign on each lot advertising rental or sale of the premises, provided that such sign shall not exceed nine square feet in area and shall be removed within 30 days after the rental or sale of the premises.

There may be an accessory sign or signs on the premises of any building constructed, erected, altered, enlarged, extended or reconstructed which is used for the purpose of any permitted nonconforming or nonresidential use, the number and type in each case to be subject to the approval of the Board of Appeals. Window signs comprising posters, placards or signs painted on or otherwise displayed on windows and visible from the street shall not exceed 10% of the individual window area or 5% of the glass area of any exit door.

No nonaccessory signs shall be erected or maintained in a Residential District.

Churches, schools or public uses shall not be subject to the limitations of this section.

A permitted home occupation shall be allowed a single identifying sign not exceeding two square feet in area.

Temporary signs shall be permitted as described in § 190-34M below.

Those signs may be erected or maintained which are permitted in Residential Districts.

Accessory signs. Signs whose subject matter relates exclusively to the premises on which they are located or to products, accommodations or activities on those premises (accessory signs) shall be allowed.

Each building may have one building sign oriented to each street on which the premises have frontage identifying the building as a whole or its predominate use.

In addition, there may be one occupancy sign and one pedestrian sign oriented to each street or parking area on which the premises have frontage relating to each occupancy within the building.

Freestanding signs are allowed in Business Districts. Each lot may have one sign 30 square feet in area and no more than six feet in height and which must be set back no less than eight feet from the edge of the right-of-way. If the building on a lot is more than 100 feet or greater from the edge of the right-of-way line, then a freestanding sign of no more than 50 square feet in area or 10 feet in any linear dimension or 20 feet from the ground is allowed. The sign must be set back no less than eight feet from the edge of the right-of-way line. Freestanding signs shall be erected within a landscaped island designed to protect the signs from damage by vehicles.

Names of buildings, date of erection, monumental citations and commemorative tablets up to 10 square feet in area, when made a permanent and integral part of the building.

Building directories. In a Business District each lot is allowed one freestanding directory sign. The area shall be no greater than one square foot per occupant or tenant. Such sign may be white lighted indirectly. The height from the base on the ground to the highest part should not exceed six feet. No part of the sign structure shall be set back less than 100 feet from the edge of the right-of-way on which the industrial or business building is situated.

Traffic control and guidance signs in conformance with public traffic sign standards but located on private property and orientational signs up to two square feet in area displayed for purposes of direction or convenience, including signs identifying rest rooms, freight entrances and the like.

No sign shall project over a public right-of-way or come within three feet of the curbline. A sign on a marquee or canopy providing shelter may project over a sidewalk but may not come within three feet of the curbline on a private right-of-way. A sign attached to a building, built flush with the front property line, may extend into the public right-of-way by an amount equal to the width of the sign but not more than 12 inches.

No sign shall extend more than three feet above the roofplate line of the wall to which it is attached nor above the third floor of a multistory building. No roof signs are allowed.

The top of pedestrian signs shall be no higher than 10 feet above the sidewalk.

Occupancy signs for other than first floor occupants, if any, shall be located between the second and third floors.

Any sign attached to a building shall meet the setback requirements for that building. Any other sign shall be set back from any lot line a distance equal to its height, but not less than eight feet.

Individual sign sizes. The total sign area allowed, as calculated in accordance with the provisions of § 190-34I(2) below may be distributed among the various signs on the premises. However, individual signs shall not exceed the following maximum sizes:

Total area of signage permitted per lot, not to exceed the maximum sizes as follows:

Permanent window signs. Permanent signs on the surface of or inside display windows shall cover no more than 10% of the display window area.

Signs shall be illuminated only by steady, stationary, shielded light sources directed solely at the sign or internal to it, without causing glare for motorists, pedestrians or neighboring premises.

Illuminated signs, including neon signs, shall not produce more than one footcandle of illumination four feet from the sign.

Signs shall not be illuminated between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. unless related to an establishment operating between those hours.

All permanent outdoor lights, such as those used for area lighting or building floodlighting, shall be steady, stationary, shielded sources directed so as to avoid causing glare for motorists, pedestrians or neighboring premises. The marginal increase in light, as measured at any property line other than a street line, shall not exceed one footcandle.

Construction signs identifying parties involved in construction on the premises. These signs shall be set back a minimum of eight feet from any lot line and shall be removed after completion of construction.

Real estate signs. One unlighted sign of up to nine square feet pertaining to the sale, rental or lease of the premises on which the sign is displayed, to be removed within 14 days after sale, rental or lease.

Display window signs. Signs on the surface of or inside display windows, lighted only by building illumination and covering no more than 20% of the display area (business districts only).

Political signs. Freestanding unlighted sign of six square feet or less. Political signs shall be set back a minimum of eight feet from any lot line and shall not be attached to trees or utility poles but shall have their own self-supporting frame and means of being affixed to the land.

No sign or light shall move, flash or make noise. This shall include commercial balloon devices and high-powered searchlights. (Indicators of time or temperature may move.)

Colored lights and illuminated signs employing colors in use in traffic signal lights are prohibited within view of any signalized intersection.

Any imitation of official traffic signs or signals and the use of such words as "stop," "look," "danger," "go slow," "caution" or "warning" are prohibited.

No red or green lights or any lighting effect utilizing such colors shall be used on any sign if, in the opinion of the Chief of Police, such light or lighting would create a hazard to the operation of motor vehicles.

Portable signs with or without replaceable letters which may be moved from one location to another shall be prohibited.

Signs on unregistered vehicles which are visible from nearby public rights-of-way (except for temporary "for sale" signs) shall be prohibited.

Wall signs. No sign shall be painted or posted directly on the exterior surface of any wall. All signs must be painted, posted or otherwise securely affixed to a substantial intermediary removable surface which shall be securely affixed to the wall of the building. The foregoing, however, shall not prevent the installation of a sign by individual letters or devices cut into, or securely affixed to, the exterior wall of a building. The material of the sign and intermediary surface and the manner in which they are affixed to their respective surfaces or walls shall be subject to the approval of the Building Inspector.

Maintenance. All signs, including temporary signs, shall be securely erected or affixed and shall be kept safe, neat and clean and in good and safe repair and operating condition, to the reasonable satisfaction of the Building Inspector.

Illuminated signs. Illuminated signs shall be constructed of noncombustible materials, except that facings, letters, figures, decorations and structural trim may be made of approved combustible plastics as defined in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials standard methods.

Required permits. A permit from the Building Inspector is required before sign erection, alteration or enlargement, except for ordinary maintenance, and if necessary a permit from the Electrical Inspector and approval of the Chief of Police is required before sign erection.

Signs not requiring permits. No permit shall be necessary for the following signs:

Full name, residence and business address of the owner of the property, of the lessee, if any, and of any authorized agent to whom notices may be sent.

Location, position and dimensions of sign.

Such plans, structural drawings and specifications as the Inspector may require for temporary examination and permanent record.

A surety company bond as required by the Building Code of the Town of Wakefield.

Issuance of permit. The Building Inspector shall, within 21 days, approve or reject any applications for a sign filed with him in accordance with all requirements of this section and all other applicable laws, bylaws and regulations.

Electrical inspections. Electrical permits are required for any sign which is to be illuminated. The permit must be issued simultaneously with the building permit. The sign and the sign's power supply shall conform to the National Electrical Code.

Applicability of Building Code. Signs shall be deemed to be structures subject to all applicable provisions of the State Building Code and to all of the powers thereby granted to the Building Inspector.

Violations and penalties; noncriminal disposition. Any alleged violation of the provisions of this section may, in the sole discretion of the Building Inspector or his designee, be made the subject matter of the proceedings initiated by the Building Inspector pursuant to the provisions of MGL c. 40, § 21D, that is noncriminal disposition. If the Building Inspector so elects to proceed under MGL c. 40, § 21D, all the terms and provisions of such chapter and section shall thereafter govern said action.