Image credit: Department of Buildings.

Owner sought to install billboard capable of running 54 advertisements. Baychester Retail III LLC filed applications to install an LED billboard capable of displaying 54 video screen advertisements on a commercial property located near Co-op City, in the Baychester section neighborhood of the Bronx near the New England Thruway. Buildings denied the applications.

Buildings ruled that the structural frame onto which 27 two-sided LED panels were to be mounted was a single sign. The total surface area at 9,164 square feet exceeded the permissible surface area of 322 square feet. The owner claimed that each of the 54 screens were separate signs with less than 322 square feet of surface area. Buildings rejected the argument, stating that the separate LED screens, even if separated by 12 inches of space, were to be supported by a single pole connected by vertical supports, not mounted to individual structures. The City’s Board of Standards and Appeals affirmed the decision by Buildings.

The owner filed an article 78 petition. Supreme Court Justice Carol R. Edmead agreed with Buildings and denied the owner’s applications, and the Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed. The Appellate Division ruled that Buildings’ decision to deny the owner’s applications was supported by substantial evidence and was in accordance with the zoning code.

Baychester Retail III LLC v. Perlmutter, 78 N.Y.S.3d 52 (1st Dep’t 2018).

By: Paul Sorensen (Paul is a New York Law School student, Class of 2019.)