Commercial lease semantics for outdoor sign clarification
The exhibit in my signed lease dictating my outdoor sign design states:

 "The size of the sign should be no larger than 3’ in height and 10’ in length or 80% of the width of the store front." 

The landlord states the overlay restricts the sign to 3x10 feet.


I have 35 feet of frontage due to having two suites combined. 80% of that frontage would leave me with 28 feet in possible width.

Am I in the right to pursue this issue harder? Why put the "or" in there if it's not an option?
[{"id": "d31e6le", "text": "Semantically, you're probably right. But it's important to consider how many other tenants are in the property. If you're a lone tenant, I could see you making the case that you're entitled to the extra-large sign.\n\nHowever, if you share this property with other tenants, your sign would be twice as large as anyone else's, which would be unfair to your neighbors. The reason these sorts of clauses exist is so that all tenants are on equal footing, and making a sign that's twice as large as anyone else's would go against the spirit of the agreement.\n\nEdit/addendum: If you fight this, you can bet the LL will learn his lesson and change the language in the lease to something more specific. The agreement is poorly worded to convey the LL's intent, and the *intent* of the agreement is what is most important; winning because of technicalities won't win you much respect from anyone.", "replies": [{"id": "d31ng39", "text": "See my response below. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d31hyu4", "text": "Without seeing the sign criteria for the shopping center, it's tough to make a judgement call here.\n\nHowever usually these clauses are interpreted to the smaller of the 2 options as the purpose, or intent, is to restrict signs from being too big not too small.", "replies": [{"id": "d31mesc", "text": "Agreed. The clause is poorly drafted and ambiguous on its face, but the intent was to limit the signage to the smaller of the two options. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d31n986", "text": "Spoke with the in house counsel of the LL. He said that the clause was copied directly from the planned unit development write up.\n\nThe lease states that my proposed sign needs to be approved by the LL but I believe they may be interpreting the clause either very conservatively or without purposeful understanding.\n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d31pbmf", "text": "Actually, semantically, the maximum size for the sign would be 10X3. Read your agreement closely for the terms 'maximum' and 'whichever is smaller/greater.' Ultimately, the planning office in your city determines the sizes for signage on public streets. If there are multiple units, the owner may have additional restrictions for consistency in appearance. Read the lease agreement carefully and call the PM or owner and ask.\n", "replies": [{"id": "d31q41o", "text": "**Here is the full exhibit. No mention of maximum sizes.**\n\n\nNOTICE: Landlord\u2019s written approval and conformance with these specifications does not imply conformance with local and other applicable electrical and local sign codes.\n\nAll signs shall be designed, constructed and installed to meet local signage and electrical codes.\n\nLOCATION:\n\n1. Normal signing surface is parapet area above the front door of the shop.\n\n2. No roof-mounted signs allowed.\n\nTYPE SIGNS:\n\n1. Signs to be made up of individual letters illuminated on a raceway.\n\n2. Sign material shall be subject to Landlord\u2019s approval.\n\n3. Signage must be in white lettering, with the exception of national tenants with a branded color.\n\n4. Logos in addition to signage must be approved and be proportionate to the height of the sign and consistent with basic color of signage.\n\n**5. The size of the sign should be no larger than 3\u2019 in height and 10\u2019 in length or 80% of the width of the store front.**\n\n6. No exposed neon signs are allowed.\n\n7. No moving, flashing, rotating, blinking, animated, or audible signs are allowed.\n\n8. No signs can be painted on walls or other surfaces.\n\n9. No rear signs are allowed.\n\n10. Painted or printed signs on the exterior surface of any building are prohibited. Landlord will remove any non-conforming signage, and the cost of such removal will be the responsibility of Tenant.\n\n11. No hanging banners of any type allowed, excepting that Tenant may have one (1) \u201cGrand Opening\u201d banner which is in a size and location agreed to by Landlord, not to be unreasonably withheld, is otherwise in compliance with all of the provisions of this Sign Criteria, which Tenant first obtains all required governmental approvals, and the costs of the approvals, the design, fabrication and installation are at Tenant\u2019s sole cost and expense and for a duration of no more than sixty (60) days from the date of opening. Landlord shall have the right, without notice to Tenant, to dispose of any banner not meeting these requirements.\n\n12. Tenant is responsible for installation of the sign in a watertight manner, properly sealing any penetration in the building. Penetration of the roofing membrane is prohibited.\n\n13. Tenant is responsible for the maintenance of the sign. The sign shall remain uniformly lit at all times. In the event the sign is not 100% operational for a period exceeding 5 working days, the Landlord will hire a sign company to repair the sign and the Tenant will be responsible for reimbursing the Landlord for all cost associated with this work in a reasonable timeframe.\n\n14. Tenant is responsible for installing a time clock to control the operation of their sign. Tenant signage to remain on 7:00 AM \u2013 11:00 PM daily.\n\n15. Tenant may use the sign company of its choice.\n\n16. Tenant is permitted to place one (1) panel sign on each side of the pylon/monument sign at the Shopping Center.\n\n\n\n\nTenant shall submit detailed design drawings of all signage to Landlord for approval prior to fabrication. This submittal shall include two (2) copies of drawings showing sizes of letters and spacing, type of material, color, all dimensions and the proposed placement on the parapet. It shall also include a copy of the local ordinance.", "replies": [{"id": "d31rrxf", "text": "Well, your restrictions are right up front:\n\nLocation:\n\n1.\tNormal signing surface is parapet area above the front door of the shop. (This implies \u2018each\u2019 shop. So your use of two shops notwithstanding, you get one sign for each.)\n\nType signs:\n2.\tSign material shall be subject to Landlord\u2019s approval. (Variances to these guidelines can be vetoed by the owner.) \n\nThat\u2019s the way I see it. I\u2019d try making a drawing as the terms describe and try to sweet talk the owner into letting you install the larger sign. \n", "replies": [{"id": "d31tfks", "text": "True. I pulled the PUD online and sent it to them. The sign restrictions are no different than the local county code - 10% of the occupancy frontage square footage. I feel like they have reused a lease from a different PUD and might be restricting their tenants now due to this oversight.", "replies": [{"id": "d31tk96", "text": "That assessment sounds spot on.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d31x3u7", "text": "I read the full exhibit you posted. \n\nAs others have said, landlord has ability to restrict to 10'x3'\n\nWHAT I SUGGEST:\nIf it really is legal to have a sign as big as you're wanting, then politely ask your landlord to make a lease addendum which allows for a larger sign to cover two storefronts. He/she may decline, but I make addenda like that all the time for my tenants, assuming they are good tenants.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d3texeb", "text": "I don't think the language is vague and you cannot get bigger than 3x10 based on what you have provided.\n\nThe \"or\" is being used to show 2 different options. If you split the statement into 2 sentences instead of 1, it would read: \"The size of the sign should be no larger than 3' in height and 10' in length. The size of the sign should be no larger than 3' in height and 80% of the width of the storefront in length.\"\n\nYou have to meet both criteria - not one or the other. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]