Another billboard company is suing the City of New Rochelle on constitutional grounds for awarding its location along I-95 to a competitor.
In a Jan. 12 complaint, Vector Media of New York City has asked U.S. District Court, White Plains, to stop the city from making Vector remove its billboard or make the city pay the fair market value of the structure.
“New Rochelle has waged an unlawful campaign to take Vector Media”™s billboard without due process or just compensation,” the complaint states, “and now to threaten millions of dollars in ”¦ unreasonable and coercive fines to prevent Vector Media from enforcing its rights.”
Clear Channel Outdoor of San Antonio, Texas made essentially the same argument in a federal lawsuit filed in November. New Rochelle broadly denied those allegations in an answer filed on the same day as Vector”™s lawsuit.
The seeds of the controversy were planted in 1996 when New Rochelle banned billboards.
The sign companies challenged the ban in federal court, and in 2000 a settlement was reached.
The companies agreed to remove some billboards, and New Rochelle repealed the ban. The deal allowed for up to nine new billboards to be built along I-95, but older billboards would have to be removed by the end of 2020.
Vector bought one of the I-95 billboards in 2006, according to the complaint, and it usually generates more than $250,000 in annual revenue.
In 2016, the city solicited bids to build nine new billboards along I-95 and said the winner could use existing billboards if the owners agreed to sell.
The winner agreed to pay $100,000, plus $225,000 for each digital face, $75,000 for each static face and 50% of gross revenue.
Vector claims the deal violates the 2000 settlement. New Rochelle said the “stipulation speaks for itself,” in its response to the Clear Channel”™s lawsuit.
Then, this past September, after Clear Channel disputed the city”™s authority, the complaint states, New Rochelle legislated fines to give companies an “incentive” to remove signs.
The fines apply to both the billboard companies and the property owners whose locations are leased. Vector and its property owner could be assessed up to $10,000 per sign face, totaling $40,000 a day, for not removing the structure.
Vector alleges that the city is violating the First, Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, regarding protected speech, unlawful taking, just compensation, excessive fines and due process, as well as the state eminent domain law.
Manhattan attorney Brian A. Katz represents Vector.
