Swampscott attorney files complaint over sign violations

SWAMPSCOTT – Some residents are fed up with what they characterized as a blatant disregard for the zoning bylaw by some area businesses.On Tuesday afternoon, local attorney William DiMento filed a formal complaint with the building inspector regarding the proliferation of what he believes are illegal signs in town. DiMento said some of the worst offenders are gas stations.”Gibbs Station (on Humphrey Street) and Energy North (on Essex Street) have big placards attached to the pumps,” he said. “They’re illegal. Some towns allow them but Swampscott does not. There are sign violations all over the place and they are offensive. There’s a big Marlboro sign at both places and one at Spiro’s opposite the football field.”Calls to Building Inspector Allen Hezekiah, who has 14 days to respond to the complaint, were not immediately returned.According to the complaint, Gibbs Gas Station is in violation of its special permit because there are numerous sign violations at the establishment.Selectman Jill Sullivan shared DiMento’s concern about the proliferation of signs in town.”I’ve always had concerns with signs,” she said. “My take on it is that it’s like noise pollution. You don’t really think about it until it’s out of control. If there’s no control people will do anything – completely cover windows with paper signs, put up neon signs and flashing lights. We don’t want to be anti-business and say you can’t advertise your wares, but follow the zoning bylaw when you advertise your wares.”DiMento said he is incensed about the signs because it is unsightly and leads to further degradation of the community.”There is a book called ‘Fixing Broken Windows’,” he said. “It is about stemming the breakdown of communities by fixing broken windows when they occur instead of allowing an area to deteriorate until it is full of blight. Right now there is no will among the selectmen or Town Administrator (Andrew Maylor) to enforce zoning bylaws when it comes to signs so they are allowing broken windows. If they fined everyone for doing these things, they wouldn’t do it.”DiMento said he’s not trying to nitpick, but he loves the community.”My whole mission is not to let Swampscott be one of those towns where we don’t pick up the trash, where we don’t paint over graffiti and where we ignore blights,” he said. “Signs are a blight – that’s a broken window and you can bet your butt I’m not going to sit back and do nothing about it.”Sullivan agreed with the broken window theory and said the zoning bylaw revisions are designed to create uniformity and an aesthetically pleasing environment.”I think uncontrolled signs are a sort of broken window. It creates a hodgepodge cluttered look that isn’t conducive to a beautiful downtown,” she said. “Broken windows take a lot of forms when you take the position that something – whether it be signs, parking or dog waste on the street – isn’t as important as something else, it starts to snowball. When you start to say, ‘This isn’t as important as another thing,’ it starts to snowball and suddenly what wasn’t important proliferates all over the place.”