From The Villager
Noho tenants sue city over oversized billboard
By: Régine Labossière
June 28, 2001
Six outraged Noho residents have filed a lawsuit against van Wagner, a national billboard company, and the city's Department of Buildings for van Wagner's plan to build a billboard over 356 Bowery. The residents charge the billboard, under construction in the rear courtyard of 356 Bowery, will affect everyone living in that apartment building as well as 48 Great Jones St. and 354 Bowery.
The billboard plan calls for a double-sided, 1,200-square-foot sign hovering over the five-story residential building. The top of the billboard, for an as yet unknown advertisement, will be 85 feet above street level. Currently, there is a pole that was built to support the billboard, whose construction has been delayed by the lawsuit.
Residents are furious, calling the proposed billboard "enormous," in breach of the 20-foot rear yard setback rule, and dangerous.
"You can't build billboards over small residential buildings," said Stan Ries, a resident of 48 Great Jones St. and chairperson of the Noho Neighborhood Association. "Envision a pole 12 feet in diameter going up the back of 356 Bowery, but all the buildings can see it. It's really going to affect those on the sixth and seventh floors [of 48 Great Jones St.], being they will be blocked by the billboard."
Ries is also aggravated by the effects of construction.
"There's a lot of dust so we have to close our windows," he said. "And this will dramatically affect living there because of all the light coming from the billboards."
The van Wagner billboard is planned to cover an existing pink Evian billboard.
Kathryn Freed, Councilmember for the First District, is worried about the residents' safety.
"In an attempt to solve the 20-foot rear yard setback rule, van Wagner has been narrowing the base of the support structure," Freed said in a letter to the Department of Buildings. "What is most distressing about the work being done is the safety risk it poses to the nearby residents. The supporting base of the sign is being significantly narrowed, thus compromising its ability to perform its structural role."
Ries and other residents have filed suit to combat construction of the billboard because they say it is illegal.
Freed said on May 29, the Department of Buildings revoked the permits for the sign because its size is now illegal under new zoning laws and construction had not begun before Feb. 21, 2001, when the new zoning laws took effect. Freed said on May 31, D.O.B. also ruled the sign illegal because of violations against the 20-foot rear yard setback rule. Freed also charged that van Wagner lied on its applications to attain the building permit, which was later revoked.
Ries is angered that construction of the pole has continued, he said, without any additional filing with D.O.B.
Jack Lester, the residents' lawyer, said they last went to court June 1 to "prevent the sign from going up." Lester said they had obtained several injunctions from continued construction of the billboard. The lawsuit, "Jonathan Lanman against van Wagner Sign Company and Department of Buildings," will continue, Lester said, if Buildings does not order van Wagner to take down the pole by July 1.
"So far the Department of Buildings says it will not grant them permission to put up the sign," Lester said.
Paul Wein, a D.O.B. spokesperson, said, "the structure [pole] is permanent but the sign is not. They took out a permit for the billboard. The permit was retracted because the sign was not erected before Feb. 27, 2001. That's when the new regulations on the new sign law were made. The permit lapse is still being discussed."
"We're going to see that the sign never goes up," Lester said.
Ries agrees.
"This is pretty serious because this is the biggest sign in Noho," Ries said in disbelief. "Massive billboards that are illuminated in general affect quality of life. It's bigger than the Yahoo sign on Houston!"
©The Villager 2003
