Spotting illegal billboards tough for the District
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
May 28, 2009
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| Billboards have been illegal in the District since 1931. However, some remain up, such as this one on 11th Street and K Street NW. It is not entirely clear which ones are up legally and which are up illegally. (Andrew Harnik/Examiner) |
A D.C. government project to sort out legal billboards from illegal ones is requiring a staggering amount of legwork — searches through piles of decades-old city permits and calls to the National Archives, for example.
Special signs
D.C.’s “special signs” law:
» Exempted 32 special signs from the billboard moratorium in 2001.
» List includes 14 on New York Avenue NE and NW.
» Many authorized signs are fastened to buildings.
Some District residents simply want the signs removed.
“It’s hard for the community to understand how the District ... issued these permits in perpetuity,” said Cary Silverman, president of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association. “Even if the permit is valid, there are also cases to be made that the property’s become a public nuisance and needs to be addressed.”
The District’s moratorium on new billboards took effect nearly 80 years ago. Signs in place as of Nov. 30, 1931, were allowed to stay, and most of those that were demolished or removed afterward were not allowed to be replaced.
Through 1972, the list of legal billboards was kept up to date. Then the updating stopped — so signs still hanging today may be legal, or not. Nobody knows.
“Unfortunately, after contacting the National Archives, the D.C. Archives, the Commission of Fine Arts, and the National Capital Planning Commission, we have been unable to find a copy of that authorized list,” Linda Argo, director of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, told Silverman and others in a recent e-mail. “However, we are currently creating an inventory of all legally authorized outdoor signs in the District.”
An example of how complicated the effort may be: Shaw activists have long complained about a set of billboards near the intersections of New Jersey Avenue, Fourth Street and P Street Northwest. Neighbors assumed the signs were illegal. But they are legal: DCRA’s predecessor agency issued a permit for them in 1961 to General Outdoor Advertising Inc., now owned by Clear Channel Communications.
DCRA has established an e-mail address, signs.dcra@dc.gov, where residents can provide information, including photos, about billboards they believe are illegal.
Inspectors will be “going after all the blatantly illegal signs” starting today, spokesman Michael Rupert said.
There are numerous examples for DCRA to target, Silverman said, including signs often found outside used-car dealerships. Removing those “should be easy,” he added.
Another possible case: The massive Scion billboard wrapped around an abandoned building at 11th and K streets NW owned by Douglas Development Corp. Douglas Jemal said Wednesday the sign would come down if it was found to be illegal.
mneibauer@washingtonexaminer.com
