The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Restaurant owner upset by zoning letter
Pizza place’s banner could result in fines
TORRINGTON — Nicholas Pizza on Water Street has been in business for 37 years. Each year, owner Ninoos Yousefdadeh updates the wording on a white banner under the dining room window of the eatery, which reads “Nicholas Pizza, celebrating 37 years in business” with the phone number, the date of the anniversary, and a thank you to Torrington and Litchfield County.
Yousefdadeh received a letter Wednesday from the city’s land use office, stating that the banner and his A-frame signs on the sidewalk — one advertising that Nicholas Pizza sells state lottery tickets, and another reminding passers-by of the daily lunch special — are in violation of the city’s zoning regulations.
Yousefdadeh was not pleased.
“I’ve had the sign up all this time,” he said. “I’m not happy about this. The sign is on the brick of the building, that I own, right
under the window. It’s not on the sidewalk.
“I have tripod signs, and everyone else around here uses those,” he said. “Everyone else has chairs and tables outside too. But that sign has been up for years. It’s on my building.”
Torrington’s ordinances governing signs are available on its website,
torringtonct.org. According to the regulations, under sign_regulations, at https://www.torringtonct.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif5091/f/uploads/sign_regulations_5-15.pdf, numerous rules oversee the use of signage at a business, depending on where it is located and how it is being used.
The ordinance defines signs as follows: “Because of possible harmful impacts, signs must be regulated to: 1. Prevent hazards to automobile and pedestrian traffic by regulating size, height, location and number of signs.
2. Ensure clarity and legible content. 3. Complement the overall character of the City of Torrington.
4. Support both businesses and community by making services and goods easily accessible.”
In the case of Yousefdadeh’s banner, the regulations describe it as “any sign of lightweight fabric or similar flexible material that is securely mounted to a building or structure. Banners must
be securely mounted and cannot be mounted by rope, string or other method of tie that would allow the banner to flap or become loose.”
The banner at Nicholas Pizza could also fall under the definition of a freestanding sign. The regulations state that it must not be close to the ground.
Yousefdadeh said he pays close to $40,000 a year in property and car taxes to the city. “The letter says they (the city) will charge me $75 a day if I don’t remove the sign,” he said. “I pay all these taxes, and what am I getting?”
Yousefdadeh said he previously hung a flag from the building announcing his business, and was told he had to take it down. “They said to remove it, because it was distracting people while they were driving up the street,” he said. “Now I’m getting this.”
Like many other restaurants and bars in Connecticut, Yousefdadeh has struggled to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic. Until recently, he was unable to serve
customers in the dining room, and had to depend on take-out only to make money.
“I’m a small business,” he said. “I’m trying to keep my doors open, to
make a living. It’s been like this for the last nine months. I’m broke as it is, and now they want me to pay $75? It’s extortion. It’s like fighting with my hands tied behind my
back.”
The restaurant owner said other towns he visits don’t treat businesses the same way. “I go to New Britain once in a while, and I know it’s a different
city, but they’re welcoming people to shop and eat in their town,” he said. “Here, they’re not helping us at all. All they’re doing is hurting us, with things like this.”