Clayton ARB — May 4: A highway-facing sign at 121 Hunter runs into the city's wayfinding rule
The board declined a highway-facing sign for Impact Strategies at 121 Hunter Avenue, agreeing with staff it's advertising — not the wayfinding Clayton's sign code allows.
What happened
Clayton's Architectural Review Board met on Monday, May 4 for a single item: a request to add a sign to the highway-facing south side of 121 Hunter Avenue. A sign company, Dale Sign Services, asked on behalf of the building's owner to place the sign for a tenant, the construction firm Impact Strategies, above the ground floor of the facade that faces Highway 170. City staff recommended against it, and after a detailed discussion the board agreed: the sign is advertising aimed at highway traffic rather than the wayfinding Clayton's sign code is built around. The motion to approve failed unanimously, so the request was declined.
What the board decided
- The Architectural Review Board took up Dale Sign Services' request, for owner 121 Hunter Building LLC, to modify the signage at 121 Hunter Avenue. Ryan Helle presented the staff report with a recommendation not to approve. Helen DiFate moved to approve the request as submitted and Jim Arsenault seconded, but the motion failed unanimously.
- The board approved the minutes of its April 20 meeting on a motion by Helen DiFate, seconded by Jim Arsenault.
Who was there
Chair Steve Lichtenfeld led the meeting, with members Helen DiFate, Jim Arsenault, Chris Brennan and Blair Kweskin (joining online). Member Jeff Morrisey and the council's representative to the board, Susan Buse, were absent. Director of Planning and Development Anna Krane, planner Ryan Helle and City Attorney Stephanie Karr staffed the meeting.
What they debated
Staff's recommendation rested on where the sign would go. The proposed sign does not face a fronting street and would sit above the ground floor, which under the code requires the board to make specific findings before allowing it. Staff concluded the request had not met the criteria for a sign modification. The applicant's representative argued the south facade is the building's only viable spot for public visibility because it faces the highway.
Board members pushed back on that framing. They noted that the highway is not actually the property's frontage — there is a separate parcel between 121 Hunter and Highway 170 — and worried that approving a highway-facing sign here would open the door to similar requests from the building's other tenants. Several drew the contrast that decided the night: the city's sign code is written around wayfinding — helping people find a building — while this sign, they concluded, is advertising. One member summed it up:
I don't feel it fits the sign code as it's written— May 4, 2026 — Meeting Transcript [#qce9bfdb3]
The board distinguished its earlier review of a sign at 300 Hunter Avenue, which it had said would not set a precedent: that applicant had argued its signs improved wayfinding, where this request reads as advertising.
In context
The decision turned on a distinction that runs through Clayton's sign rules: a main facade sign is meant to sit along a street frontage and help people find a building, not to maximize visibility from a passing highway. The board did leave the applicant a path. Members suggested that if the owner submitted a letter limiting the request to the south elevation only — so it would not become a precedent for the building's other tenants — staff could approve that administratively, without the application coming back to the board.
Public comments
The minutes record that no members of the audience elected to participate in the open forum. On the agenda item itself, the only non-staff speaker was the applicant's representative, who answered the board's questions before the vote.