The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Electronic billboard ‘a tragedy waiting to happen’
HARTFORD — The concerns of parents of young adults at Chapel Haven and residents of New Haven’s Westville section dominated a hearing Monday on the ability of a town to regulate digital signs within its borders.
“This is a tragedy waiting to happen,” Lauralyn Lewis, of Old Lyme, told the Judiciary Commitee of the current placement of an electronic sign at the intersection of Whalley Avenue and Emerson Street in New Haven.
Chapel Haven, which helps intellectually disabled persons live independently, is across the street from the new 10-foot-by-23-foot sign that will run a series of rotating digital ads.
Lewis’ 26-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, lives near the intersection with support from Chapel Haven.
It is also where there is a traffic light and a crosswalk, specifically installed for the safety of the Chapel Haven population on the heavily traveled road.
“The electronic sign, should it be allowed to operate, will be a distraction to motorists who will be looking at the billboard and not the light or a pedestrian in the crosswalk,” Lewis wrote in testimony submitted to the committee. “For many of our sons and daughters, the angle of the electronic display would be enough to catch their attention and distract them from the walk signal.”
House Bill 5515, introduced by state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-92, clarifies that municipalities have the ability to not only decide the height, use and location of advertising signs and billboards, but also their brightness and illumination.
Many residents want the sign, which has not yet been connected to power, removed, but Alex Churilov, who installed it in February after researching where he could place it, followed the city’s current regulations.
The clarification in the state law and a proposed change in New Haven’s zoning ordinance on signs would be applicable going forward.
On the other side of the issue was John Barrett, president of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Connecticut, who said the updated state law is not necessary.
“Our opposition to this bill is not because we oppose the regulation of billboard lighting. In fact, our industry believes that good lighting practices are to the benefit of both the public and industry. The basis of our opposition is that this legislation is redundant and has no benefit to the public, the state government or the industry,” Barrett wrote.
He said there are five references to lighting in New Haven’s zoning laws, while Hartford has 16 references, Bridgeport has five and Bolton has 10.
Alder Richard Furlow, D-27, has submitted a local zoning change that would eliminate what are known as posters and also minipanels from being put up in New Haven.