Internally Lit Gas Sign Goes Up in Hamilton

Hamilton now has its first electronic sign advertising gas prices.

The sign went up on Monday in front of at 188 Bay Road.

“It’s a digital sign so we can change it from inside,” store manager Jack Patel said on Monday.

The station had used a pole with a suction cup at the end up reach up to the sign to change the gas prices. In seeking permission for the new sign, store management said that process was dangerous.

Now the price can be changed electronically, Patel said. The manually adjusted sign on the ground will remain, he said.

The other three gas stations in the two towns use manually adjusted signs.

Patel said he didn’t know the exact cost to install the new sign, which was paid for by his supplier, Energy North, and Citgo.

The sign was granted the unanimous approval of the Zoning Board of Appeals on Nov. 8 and a building permit was issued on Dec. 13 of last year, but the new sign wasn’t installed until Monday.

The sign required Zoning Board of Appeals approval since internally lit signs are not allowed under the Hamilton zoning bylaws.

Among the conditions imposed by the Zoning Board was that the lit price portion of the sign be illuminated only between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and that only the regular unleaded gas price be advertised in lights.

The full ZBA decision is attached to this story as a PDF.