Zoning hearings are not
supposed to be this much fun.
Billboard Meeting: Big business wants more signs near the Walt Whitman
Zoning Board of Adjustment hearings can be pretty dry affairs, where contractors and property owners, armed with Polaroids and blueprints, request zoning variances for such things as awnings, banners and exhaust fans. But last week's Zoning Board hearing played more like a courtroom melodrama, in which lawyers cross-examined witnesses and raised objections to the most benign statements.
At the center of controversy was Keystone Outdoor Advertising Company, which is seeking a zoning variance that would allow the company to erect a double-faced billboard on city property that will be visible from the Walt Whitman Bridge.
While previous administrations have rejected requests from sign companies to lease or license property from the city for billboards, the Rendell administration backs the proposal, and already has reached a tentative licensing agreement with Keystone.
But Keystone was forced to appear before the Zoning Board after the Department of Licenses and Inspections refused to grant it a permit because the proposed signs blatantly violated the city's 1991 billboard ordinance on a number of fronts.
Just minutes before the hearing, the drama began to unfold in the hallway outside the 18th-floor hearing room. There, suited men and women carrying large legal briefcases huddled.
In one cluster, Keystone president Dominick Cipollini and his attorney Carl Primavera stood with their engineer and supporters from the South Philadelphia Communities Civic Association, which says the billboard is a fine idea because no residents are harmed by its presence.
In another cluster, the city's most widely known anti-billboard activist Mary Tracy, founder of the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB), stood by her attorney Sam Stretton, Ruth Becker of the Pennsylvania Resources Council, and Robert Jaffe, an attorney representing Councilman David Cohen's office. Cohen, who sponsored the 1991 billboard legislation, is the most vocal Council member opposed to the variance.
Before entering the hearing room, Cipollini—who's contributed close to $40,000 to Rendell's campaigns since 1991—delivered a friendly reminder to the opposition of just how political this issue could become.
"If you don't care about going against [Councilwoman] Anna Verna, then you should know you are going against [State Sen. Vince] Fumo," Cipollini was overheard saying.
The proposed billboard would be erected in Verna's South Philly district. Verna, who won't publicly support the billboard, but will not oppose it either, is a likely candidate to replace Council President John Street when he runs for mayor.
Crossing Verna and powerful South Philly pol Fumo could carry political retribution, mainly for Cohen, who must run to protect his at-large seat next year. At least according to Cipollini's logic.
(Gary Tuma, a spokesman for Fumo, says the senator is not involved in the billboard proposal, nor has the senator been contacted about it.)
Inside the hearing room, Primavera, who has appeared before the Zoning Board on behalf of billboard companies a number of times, argued that the variance should be granted because the other billboards exist in the vicinity of the Walt Whitman Bridge, and the city property in question is nothing more than a sludge plant.
Jaffe argued that the Zoning Board had no power to rule because the billboard deal is worth more than the city's contract limit of $10,000, and therefore, is subject to Council review and decision.
"[Jaffe's] argument is more rhetoric than legal," Primavera interjected.
But Jaffe's argument does cut to the heart of this deal. If the zoning board grants the variance, the billboard deal—worth $1.2 million, over 40 years, to the city—will be executed by Philadelphia Authority of Industrial Development (PAID), a quasi-public agency that assists the city's economic development efforts. PAID is not subject to Council's review, and therefore, is being used by the mayor to keep the deal away from Council, Councilman Cohen has argued.
This argument has not been lost on others. Last week, Councilman Michael Nutter introduced legislation that would prohibit the erection of billboards on city property unless they are authorized by City Council first. If this passes, it could prevent the administration from erecting billboards approved by the zoning board through PAID.
The city's billboard ordinance prohibits billboards within 660 feet of the Walt Whitman Bridge to prevent drivers from being distracted. The ordinance also prohibits signs within 500 feet of another sign. In addition, it restricts the size of billboards to under 1,500 square feet, and keeps them away from playgrounds and schools. Considered more important by billboard opponents, the ordinance caps the number of billboards that can be erected in the city. If, for instance, a sign company receives a permit for a billboard, it must remove a sign of similar size from another location.
Keystone's proposed signs are too close to the bridge and to other signs, and are too large at 2,400 square feet; and the company is not offering to remove any of its existing signs.
All of these objections are supported by Rendell's own Planning Commission, which recommends the requested variances not be granted.
The most dramatic moment unfolded during the testimony of Ruth Becker, a senior consultant with the Pennsylvania Resources Council.
Becker has had a long history of environmental activism in this state. She testified that the city could lose its federal highway funds if the Zoning Board approved the deal. The sign, she said, would violate a federal law that prohibits the construction of a new billboard within 660 feet of an interstate highway.
Primavera challenged many of Becker's statements and tried to paint her simply as anti-billboard activist. During his cross-examination, Primavera raised his voice and moved closer to her. Jaffe positioned himself between the two.
"In many years of testifying, I have never had lawyers with me or against me," she said after the hearing.