Patrick Kilduff, Partner and Chair of the Outdoor Advertising Practice at Tarter Krinsky and Drogin talked about New York City Out of Home Law on a December 2020 Law Brief Podcast. Insider notes that Kilduff’s comments should not be taken as legal advice. For that you should consult your own attorney. Some highlights.
On Times Square
Times Square is unique…It is one area of the City where the strict regulations for other advertising signs do not apply. The city has a very complex set of regulations that govern where and how you can display outdoor advertising. In Times Square those signs are celebrated…
Enforcement Stepped up in the 1990s
In the late 1990s there was a new push for enforcement of the applicable zoning regulations and the City discovered examples of unlawful conversion of accessory signs into advertising signs. In response, the City started issuing a series of violations. In 2001, the City changed the law…to impose robust penalties…
How does the City track compliance?
The City requires companies…that engage in the outdoor advertising business to register with the Department of Buildings. As part of that registration process these companies are required to submit an inventory of all signs that they operate that are within 900 feet and within view of an arterial highway and within 200 feet and within view of a public park of ½ acre or more. The City requires licensed professionals (architects or engineers) to certify as to compliance with City zoning.
Harsh Penalties
For years…enforcement was handled in the Criminal Courts…Someone alleged to have violated the Zoning Resolution…would receive a Criminal Court summons with a maximum fine of $5,000. For some owners and operators a $5,000 fine several months into a Criminal Court process where you’re going to plead to a violation and not a crime was seen as the cost of doing business. As a result, the City adopted a heightened fine scheme where any violations of the applicable sign regulations of the Administrative Code or the Zoning Resolution carry fines of $10,000 per violation for a first offense and $25,000 per violation for a second offense with each separate section that you violate leading to a separate fine…Both the owner and outdoor advertising company operating the sign are liable.
Proving a sign is legal
There are signs that have been in a location for 40, 50, sometimes 100 years…and the City requires proof that the sign was not only legally established and complied with zoning when it was built but that such use…if the zoning district or applicable law has changed…has continued without a period of discontinuance of two years of more…If you have a sign that dates back to the 1930s, yes we can show a permit…and we can show a tax photograph of the sign from the 1940s, but then the City argues: how do I know that that sign that was up in the 1940s is the same as the one there today? How do I know that you did not change that sign? That is when we need to become historian and archeologist in addition to being zoning and code compliance attorneys…
Determining where signs are permitted
Residence districts do not allow the display of advertising signage. Certain commercial districts do. In most cases you may display advertising signs in manufacturing districts…Our City imposes all kinds of additional regulations. Are you near a park? Are you near an arterial highway? Are you near a residence district? Are you in a special district? Are you in an overlay district? And of course, are you in a landmark district? If you are in a Landmark district you may need the Landmark Presentation Commission to sign off on any kind of advertising signage…it’s just another layer of regulation.
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