TUPPER LAKE – The Adirondack Public Observatory has removed signage on state Route 3 to avoid fines issued by the state Department of Transportation.

The sign for the astronomy facility on Big Wolf Road violated the Olympic Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan, prepared by the Adirondack North Country Association in 2004. This plan defines regulations for the Olympic Trail Scenic Byway, a 168-mile stretch of road that runs from Keeseville west through Lake Placid and Tupper Lake and ends by Sackets Harbor in Lake Ontario.

New, off-premise business signage is not allowed on scenic byways, which includes the observatory’s sign along Route 3, according to Michael Flick, a DOT assistant to the regional director.

“The sign that we put up wasn’t on our property,” said observatory President Marc Staves. “Off-property signage can’t be displayed unless it’s DOT-provided signage. Right now, I’m trying to figure out exactly how much that will cost and what steps we need to take to obtain the sign.”

In this case, the observatory must apply to the DOT for a “Tourist-Oriented Directional” sign. These signs have a brown background with yellow trim and lettering, and provide consistent guidance to drivers from the byway to nearby businesses.

Staves said his main concern is the temporary loss of direction for visitors to find the observatory.

“The issue we have now is that there is no way of people being directed to the facility,” Staves said. “I’ve received numerous complaints of people who said they had a hard time finding us, and several people who were just wondering where the sign went.”

According to the corridor management plan, several government officials and community members from Lake Placid and surrounding villages voiced concern before the plan was published that it would “lead to more governmental regulatory control by the Adirondack Park Agency and the introduction of additional signage regulations.”

Laws restricting signage in the Adirondack Park are nothing new, however. In 1924, the DOT and the predecessor of the state Department of Environmental Conservation administered the Adirondack Sign Law, which aims to “preserve the ‘wilderness feel’ of the Adirondacks” by forbidding off-premise business signs, according to the corridor management plan. The Lady Bird Johnson Federal Beautification Laws, passed in the 1960s, made it illegal to have off-premise advertising on federal aid highways.

Signs along the byway are allowed if they were built before the byway was established in 1992, or if the business’s property is along the byway and doesn’t violate local zoning laws, Flick said.