Bostonians could be bombarded with fewer advertisements as they walk and drive Hub streets.
With new billboards, signboards and other outdoor ads already barred from about 90 percent of the city, the Boston Redevelopment Authority now wants them banned in the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Financial District and Kenmore Square.
The signs would become conditional in some industrial neighborhoods of South Boston and in Newmarket Square — meaning they would require Zoning Board of Appeal approval — under the proposal before the Zoning Commission tomorrow. Existing billboards would be exempt.
"As sections of the city are being rezoned, there has been a movement to limit new billboards," BRA spokeswoman Melina Schuler said. "The proposed zoning amendment would further consistent billboard regulations across Boston neighborhoods."
The proposed changes would apply to "off-premise" signs — those that advertise or announce something that's available somewhere other than the lot where a sign is located. The draft rules have drawn opposition from local unions for painters and sign makers, who raised concerns about jobs, and Hub outdoor ad business Sponsor Co.
Owner Damien Jacob claims the changes are a direct attack on his business after his successful court case against the ZBA regarding two outdoor signs on a Bowdoin Street building.
In 2010, Jacob won a Suffolk Superior Court decision that required the ZBA to direct the city's Inspectional Services Department to permit the signs.
Jacob said his subsequent application for two other signs on the walls of buildings in the Fort Point neighborhood of South Boston is "just sitting on hold."
"If the BRA wasn't going out of their way to kill our company with this proposed zoning amendment," Jacob said, "then I feel the ISD would issue permits."
The ISD responded that it's "not in the business of targeting individuals."
The head of the Hub's largest locally owned billboard company, while acknowledging that the targeted neighborhoods are desired by advertisers, said community groups should have the final word.
"Frankly, the community groups in those areas are very strongly against having billboards in their areas," said James Lack, president of RSA Media. "We want the community groups to be respected and be able to dictate what happens in their areas."
The BRA, responding to Jacobs' comments, said the zoning amendment would create consistency across the city by adding the four downtown neighborhoods.
In a letter to the Zoning Commission, John Laughlin, political director of Painters & Allied Trades District Council 35, said, "In the current economy, new regulations that potentially cut jobs in Boston's downtown and commercial districts are not advisable at this time."
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