The Marlboro Town Council took a step to strengthen its current billboards ordinance in town, a move Township Attorney Louis Rainone and Mayor Jon Hornik said protects the township.

Recently, the township planning board has seen a rise in billboard applications, some of which have been approved and some denied for various reasons.

The amended ordinance restricts where billboards can be placed in relation to other large signs, the distance between billboards and billboard location. The ordinance states billboards are limited to Rt. 9 north and southbound.

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Marlboro resident Danny Mattarese said he hopes the ordinance is enough.

"I just hope it's a strong ordinance that means we won't get any more billboards," he said.

Resident Jack Williams said he believes there shouldn't be any billboard on Rt. 79.

"It's a beautiful country road," he said.

Rainone said the township has gone to great lengths to create this ordinance, which he believes not only protects the township's aesthetics but also protects the township from a lawsuit.

Billboard ordinances, Rainone said, do not work like other ordinance because state and federal law challenges an ordinance that could infringe on the First Amendment.

"We will lose if we have an outright ban," he said.

Marlboro Township has experienced that loss, in a lawsuit Rainone said ended in the township removing a billboard ban and creating an ordinance with strict guidelines for developers.

Hornik said the new amendment allowed the township to keep control of billboard proposals.

"This will protect the town," Hornik said.