BY BEN VERDE
Roughly two years after a
bevy of Brooklyn businesses
were hit with steep fi nes for
boasting non-compliant signs
above their storefronts, the
Department of Buildings
has released a slew of recommended
reforms to the permitting
process that will reduce
headaches for small shops
struggling amid the pandemic
related recession.
“We are always looking for
opportunities to better serve
our fellow New Yorkers,” said
Buildings Commissioner Melanie
La Rocca. “Cutting red
tape and streamlining enforcement
will help support small
businesses across the city.”
Authorities slapped dozens
of businesses across the city
with thousands of dollars in
fi nes in 2018 after anonymous
tipsters called in complaints
to 311 about their storefront
signage — with the vast majority
logged in Brooklyn, at
1,046 of a total 1,890. Fines for
sign violations start at $6,000
and can go up to $15,000.
The violations stemmed
from a little-known 1968 law
requiring businesses to apply
for permits to install signs
larger than six square feet,
which was designed to prevent
signs from falling and injuring
pedestrians.
The crackdown led to widespread
outrage from the business
community, which saw
the regulations as an unnecessary
and arbitrary overreach
to burden already heavily-regulated
entrepreneurs.
In an effort to relax and reexamine
the situation, the DOB
announced that they would institute
a moratorium on sign
enforcement until Feb. 9, 2021
— giving them time to study
and implement better rules governing
the storefront placards.
In its report, which was released
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Benz Jewelers owner Freddie Benz paid a $6,000 fi ne in 2018 and purchased a new sign after an anonymous
caller reported his business to the city for having placards without a permit. File photo by Steve Solomonson
on Dec. 16, the DOB’s
assembled task force recommended
a number of strategies
to prevent future onerous tickets
— including changes to the
permit process, addressing 311
abuse, and grants to help business
owners with compliance.
The report recommended
installation of a dedicated Department
of Buildings liaison,
in concert with the Department
of Small Business Services,
to work with business
owners as they navigate the
sign application process.
The Department should
also, the report argues, keep the
current moratorium in place
until the task force’s other recommendations
are fully implemented
— giving businesses
time to adjust, and make use of
the newly provided resources.
Most notably for businesses
with unknowingly non-compliant
signage, the report demands
that the Department
implement a warning system,
where business owners will
receive a six-month period to
fi x the signs before any fi nes
are levied, rather than be punished
immediately.
La Rocca, who took the
reins atop the Buildings Department
in May of 2019, “fully
endorsed” the task force’s recommendations,
and promised
expediency on giving small
businesses clarity to avoid
monetary fi nes amid the coronavirus
related recession.
“We fully endorse the recommendations
made in this
report and will work diligently
to put them in place,”
she said.
A good sign
City announces reforms to
sign-permitting process
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