Building Signage Permits

Today we wanted to draw your attention to an issue we have been seeing more and more of these days. The facts in the below case (West 81st Garage, LLC v. New York City Department of Buildings; citations listed below) revolved around whether signage, installed on a property without permits, could be “grandfathered” in based on similar signage which was installed prior to a 2019 change to Section 3 of NYC Local Law 28.

While permitting issues are typically disclosed in your Title Report for Information Only and are not insurable, they can raise significant concerns and financial obligations for clients who will have to navigate the NYC Department of Buildings code and permitting requirements when they plan on installing signage on their properties.

The Department of Buildings issued summonses to the Petitioner for the installation of signs without a permit. Civil penalties were imposed by the Department’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings for each violation. The Petitioner claimed that permits were not required under Local Law 28 of 2019 (“…waiving penalties for violations for signs that are accessory to a use on the same zoning lot”) because there were similar signs in place before the Local Law’s effective date of February 9, 2019 and, therefore, the new signs were grandfathered. Section 3 of Local Law 28 states that

“…no applicable violations shall be issued on or after the effective date of this section for an accessory sign in existence on or before the effective date of this section for a period of two years commencing on the effective date of this section, unless such accessory sign creates an imminent threat to public health or safety or the commissioner of buildings determines that such sign is otherwise not eligible for the temporary waiver created under this section.”

The Supreme Court, New York County, finding that the new signs were installed after February 9, 2019, ruled that “[t]here is absolutely no support for the proposition that Petitioners were not required to obtain a permit to hang the subject signs” under Building Code Section 105.7.2 [“Changing copy or structural change of sign or sign structure”].” Further, according to the Court, Local Law 28

“…merely serves to assist those who have hung signs without a permit in violation of the Administrative Code to resolve those violations without the burden of also paying substantial fines in addition to correcting the violation.”

West 81st Garage, LLC v. New York City Department of Buildings, 2022 NY Slip Op 31336, decided April 25, 2022, is posted at http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/pdfs/2022/2022_31336.pdf.