Beacon Hill local residents, neighborhood nonprofits and elected officials have sent letters and emails to the Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Advertising (“OOA”) opposing Clear Channel’s applications for the renewal of the permits for the three large billboards that are located within the Beacon Hill Historic District along Cambridge Street (the “Beacon Hill Billboards”). Historic New England, the Boston Preservation Alliance, the Beacon Hill Civic Association, the North Slope Initiative among other organizations, as well as State Rep. Jay Livingstone and neighborhood residents, all oppose the renewal of the Beacon Hill Billboards’ permits.
The Beacon Hill Billboards were originally installed in the 1940s. The permits for the Beacon Hill Billboards have been continuously renewed by the OOA over the years despite widespread and recurring neighborhood opposition and despite the fact that all of the Beacon Hill Billboards violate the regulations governing outdoor advertising in the Commonwealth (“Regulations”). The OOA, however, has allowed the annual renewal of the Beacon Hill Billboards apparently because they were first erected in the 1940s prior to the enactment of the Regulations, and therefore, the OOA views the Beacon Hill Billboards as “grandfathered” signs that are not subject to the current Regulations. The OOA’s position, however, is not supportable.
Because of the undisputable changes that have made to the Beacon Hill Billboards over the years – including changes in the illumination of all the Billboards, changes to the location and orientation of the Billboards, and the conversion of single large Billboards into two smaller Billboards, and them back again into single larger billboards – the Beacon Hill Billboards can no longer be deemed to have “grandfathered” status and, therefore, they are fully subject to all of the current state billboard Regulations.
As such, because the Beacon Hill Billboards are all currently located within the residential neighborhood of the Beacon Hill Historic District, with several of the Beacon Hill Billboards either improperly located within 500 feet of the other billboards, or improperly located on the roof of a residential building, and all which adversely impact the visual environment of this historic and picturesque residential neighborhood, they all violate the current state billboard Regulations, which precludes the renewal of any billboard permits which are not “in harmony with or suitable for the surrounding area or would continue to adversely impact the visual environment.”