Zoning Board Votes No On Billboards

During its Thursday night meeting, the Haverford Township Zoning Hearing Board voted 5-0 against the billboard proposal.

Bartkowski Investment Group’s (BIG) wanted to have five 672-square-foot billboards placed in Haverford Township—two of the billboards would be located along Lancaster Avenue in Haverford Township overlooking Bryn Mawr in Lower Merion Township, and three signs along West Chester Pike in Haverford Township. BIG’s challenged that Haverford Township’s no billboard ordinance was unconstitutional and a restriction on free speech.

But after a nearly three-year battle with experts and residents giving testimony in front of the zoning hearing board, the board on Thursday night disagreed with BIG's validity challenge that the township bans all forms of outdoor advertising, since it does allow for other outdoor advertising, such as ads on SEPTA buses. In addition, the board also ruled that the township and the residents' legal party in the case showed that billboards could be unsafe for residents.

However, Thaddeus Bartkowski explained to Patch in a recent story that he will be appealing the zoning hearing board’s ruling if it was not in his favor.

The nearly packed room applauded when the board issued its 5-0 ruling Thursday night, with Sandi Donato, of the No Billboards coalition and was one of four people part of the legal party representing the residents, said she was too emotional and overjoyed because of the ruling but said that she does realize that it is not over because of Bartkowski’s planning to appeal the verdict.

“We realize it’s not over and we are weighing our options,” she told Patch during a 10-minute recess, but felt that the board’s ruling will help them.

Ninth Ward Commissioner and President of the Haverford Township Board of Commissioners Bill Wechsler also said that he felt the township would have good standing in the state’s Court of Common Pleas where the appeal will most likely be filed.

“They will look at the zoning board’s hearing and make a decision based on the record,” Wechsler said to Patch. “I think it was the right decision. Our zoning laws speak for themselves.”

Robert Kane, chairman of the zoning hearing board, explained to Patch after the meeting was over that after reading through transcripts and exhibits in the case, he was “very confident that the board made the correct decision based on all the evidence presented.”

Ward 10 Commissioner of Lower Merion Scott Zelov felt likewise when he told Patch during the 10-minute recess that both townships have had “two big victories” within the last two weeks.

Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas recently ruled to deny a request to keep a billboard in Bryn Mawr, Zelov mentioned and after finding out from Patch that Bartkowski plans to appeal that ruling as well, Zelov said that Lower Merion will defend its decision to remove the billboard at the Five Points intersection in Bryn Mawr.

But the thought of another legal battle did not take away from the recent ruling, he said.

“Now Haverford has made an outstanding decision to prevent billboards in our suburban communities,” he exclaimed.

Patch was not able to speak with Haverford Township’s 7th Ward Commissioner McGarrity because he left soon after the vote, but Steve D'Emilio, 1st Ward commissioner of Haverford Township, told Patch that he was concerned with the safety of having billboards in the township and was very pleased with the ruling.

Haverford Township Solicitor Jim Byrne has said during the hearings that there have been cases that billboards have fallen down, with BIG attorney Marc Kaplin maintaining that just because a few of them have fallen does not mean that all of them do. Byrne, Kaplin or Lower Merion Township Solicitor Bill Kerr did not attend the ruling Thursday night.

But the thought of the township dealing with the possible appeals process upset D’Emilio, saying that “it’s another long fight and it will cost the taxpayers more money,” adding that the money could be better spent on township roads or recreation.

Margaret Murr, one of the four who was part of the legal party representing the residents, along with Donato, said she was very happy “to live in a township that made the right decision.”