By:Tom Jordan
With retailers facing a fast-approaching July 17 deadline for replacing their non-conforming commercial signs, chairman of the Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce Gary Schwartz made a plea to the Board of Trustees to reconsider the enforcement of the 18-year-old ordinance.
Sixty-two Rockville Centre businesses were notified six months ago that they must replace their signs, which are in violation of the ordinance authored in 1983 that limits the size of commercial signs. A 10-year grandfather clause was instituted at the time, and was subsequently extended twice, once for three years and again for two. The board did not extend the moratorium for a third time when it expired in 1998, but did not press established businesses to replace the signs until this year.
Schwartz pointed out that most of the businesses being told they must remove their signs hold valid permits issued by the building departments, some extending to 2005.
Though the board rejected the idea of again extending the moratorium, they are not sure of the legal consequences of cutting short the duration of the permits. Village Attorney Martha Krisel is looking into the matter.
The best-case scenario for the businesses, Trustee Jack Matthews said, is that they'll be allowed to keep their signs until their permits expire.
"It's incredible that they're issuing permits in violation of their law. It's incredible that it's 18 years later and this is still going on," said Joe Kelly, who served on the beautification committee that pushed for the ordinance.
Schwartz submitted to the board a petition signed by 75 business owners, many of whom were also in attendance at the June 25 meeting of the board.
James Bennett, owner of the Holiday Inn on Sunrise Highway, said: "I don't want to be a lawbreaker. We've got a problem...It hurts these businesses to lose their signs. If we had to take our sign down, people would have a hard time finding us."
"They said that retailers have known about the ordinance for 18 years, but we've only been here for three," said Neil Barbiero, who with his brother Roger owns Village Liquor. "We had no idea about this sign issue until six months ago. It would be a big hardship to replace our sign. We just had it repaired for $600."
But members of the board said there has already been plenty of warning and that it is time to begin enforcing the ordinance.
"The main issue is aesthetics, that's why this ordinance was passed 18 years ago," said Trustee Mary Bossart. "If you look at Orlando [Florida] or any place that is very generous with what they will allow, the signs get very garish. If we want people to know that Rockville Centre is a different kind of place, we have to enforce the ordinance.
"It's also not fair to the businesses that have abided by the law. Why should they be penalized? If you're going to make a restriction, you have to enforce it even handedly," Bossart said.
Rockville Centre resident Jeff Greenfield suggested that merchants be able to keep their signs contingent upon approval of the zoning board of appeals, of which Greenfield is chairman.
