NEW MILFORD — An ice cream store owner whose LED window signs violate the town’s regulations is battling zoning watchdogs by arguing that the lights create “a warm environment, vital for our business.”

“(O)ur property has unique physical circumstances that create a practical difficulty and unnecessary safety hardship … the relief requested … will not harm the public good, or the character of the neighborhood,” said Jesse Pruchnik, owner of Jesse’s Ice Cream on Main Street, during a public hearing. “Our entrance sits deep inside an architectural alcove that swallows the doorway light from side approaches.”

As a result, the ice cream shop owner said, he wants to keep the three neon-style signs where they are in the large display window overlooking the town’s historic village green. That includes an illuminated 45-inch-by-6-inch fuchsia-colored “Jesse’s Ice Cream” sign and two smaller circular neon-style “Open” signs on either side. The businessman also wants to keep the two strings of overhead outdoor lights where they are above the outdoor patio tables.

Besides violating town rules that only one small illuminated “Open” sign is allowed, the problem with illegal lights is the complaints, said Scott Leddy, a member of New Milford’s Zoning Board of Appeals, during a July 15 hearing.”

Pruchnik said he hasn’t of heard any.

“To date we have received zero complaints — only compliments from neighbors who appreciate the improved safety and appearance,” Pruchnik said during the hearing, which will continue in August. “Literal enforcement of the code would leave the walkway dangerously dark.”

A town zoning official wasn’t so sure.

“It should also be noted that there is a light fixture above the entrance door and in the entrance vestibule and a streetlight on the sidewalk between" the ice cream shop and the next-door toy store, said Sharon Millard, assistant land use enforcement officer, in a June 10 memo to the ZBA.

The zoning official reminded the board the purpose of the sign restrictions was to “maintain uniformity of placement, size, and design of building signage in the Village Center” and to prevent “upward illumination, light trespass, and glare.”

That would be fine if the ice cream shop was like any other storefront in the downtown, the store owner argued.

“The layout produces blind spots and shadows,” Pruchnik said during the hearing. He said a 3-foot fence separating grades in the sidewalk “blocks municipal streetlight and casts dangerous shadow patterns directly across from the patron walkway,” and “the neighbor’s awning blocks light from the next streetlight in line, preventing what might otherwise have been helpful illumination.”

The landlord of the 1905 building, Robert Cioffoletti, agreed, writing to the zoning appeals board that he “approves of the light-up LED sign in the window.”

At stake is the integrity of the historic downtown vibe and the need for businesses to innovate. Next door to the ice cream shop, a new restaurant called Zaza’s is seeking town permission to add an outdoor bar to the patio overlooking the green.

The town zoning official reminded the appeals board that there was also flexibility in the sign regulations that the ice cream shop owner could take advantage of.

Regulations allow a 4-square-foot wall hung directory sign … for which no zoning permit is required,” Millard wrote in the June 10 memo. “Sandwich board signs and interior window signage covering no more than 25% of the window are also permitted in the Village Center.”

July 27, 2026