Billboard Bid Rejected

Highway drivers won’t get to enjoy / be distracted by another electronic billboard by the Q Bridge, now that the zoning board has turned down an Ohio-based firm’s outdoor advertising application.

The Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) took that vote Tuesday night during its latest monthly meeting.

For the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic more than four years ago, the zoning board met in person on the second floor of City Hall, as well as online via Zoom.

The zoning board voted 3 – 2 to deny a use variance requested by John Kirrirah of Kenjoh Outdoor Advertising to permit a two-sided billboard at 26 Water St.

That’s the MacKenzie Machine Shop property at the southeastern corner of Water, East Street, and Forbes Avenue — just across the street from the I‑95 highway bridge and Pearl Harbor memorial park.

Each side of the proposed billboard would have been 12 feet by 37 feet, or 444 square feet, large. The sign would have stood a total of 63 feet tall, but only around 35 feet above the I‑95 ramp.

At June’s monthly zoning board meeting, a Kenjoh Outdoor Advertising rep pitched the zoners on granting the use variance on the grounds that the city’s ​“Spectacular Sign Zoning Map Overlay District” — which covers where billboards can be erected — hasn’t been updated in more than half a century. The highway has expanded so much since that time, he argued, making it effectively impossible to build a zoning-compliant billboard.

City zoning staff, which recommended denial of the use variance application, countered that the way to address this issue is not by granting the requested relief — but instead by the Board of Alders updating the relevant ​“spectacular sign” zoning map.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the five zoning board members present didn’t articulate why they supported or opposed the billboard use variance application.

Instead, BZA Acting Chair Mike Martinez initially moved to approve the application. No board members seconded his motion.

BZA member Chris Peralta then moved to deny the application, which did get a second. The final vote on Peralta’s motion to deny was three in support of denial, two in support of approval.

City Deputy Corporation Counsel Roderick Williams explained that the variance needed four positive votes to be approved.

“So, the variance is denied,” city Deputy Director of Zoning Nate Hougrand announced.

The zoning board did, however, approve a related application, known as a Coastal Site Plan Review, for the billboard plan at 26 Water St.

That part of the application pertains to the proposal’s potential impact on coastal resources, among other water-adjacent considerations. City staff recommended approval of the Coastal Site Plan Review, and the zoning board voted 4 – 1 in support.

However, at the end of the day, the rejection of the requested use variance means that the billboard builder can’t erect a 63-foot-tall electronic sign at the proposed spot.

Hougrand told the Independent that any part ​“aggrieved by the board’s decision” can appeal within 15 days from the date the notice of the decision is published in the New Haven Register, which will likely be on Saturday.

A representative from Kenjoh declined to comment for this story.