Court battle begins in Tarentum billboard case

An Allegheny County judge heard arguments Thursday in a case where a billboard company is fighting for the right to place a sign near the Tarentum Bridge.

Staff for Common Pleas Judge Joseph James said he will render a decision in the case within a week.

America First Enterprises, doing business as Oliver Outdoor, appealed to court after Tarentum’s code enforcement officer refused to issue it a permit to put up the billboard atop a pole at 107 E. Fourth Ave. That decision was upheld by the borough’s Zoning Hearing Board after a hearing in May.

The company is arguing it should be allowed to erect the billboard at the bridge because the borough’s zoning ordinance effectively excludes billboards from being placed anywhere in Tarentum. The company’s attorney, Maureen Sweeney, says that’s unconstitutional.

Tarentum Zoning Hearing Board attorney Larry Loperfito called that argument a “red herring.” He told the judge that the company should not be allowed to raise it now because it had not done so earlier.

In a statement, Loperfito said Oliver Outdoor has failed to prove the requirements to obtain a variance for where it wants to place the billboard.

Loperfito said in the statement it’s up to Oliver Outdoor to prove “there is a hardship and that the essential character of the neighborhood or district would not be harmed by the grant of a variance.

“The board found that there was no hardship in this case except that Oliver wanted to place a billboard in a location where they could not so do.”

Sweeney cited problems with the borough’s zoning ordinance that was filed with that court and is available to the public. The problems she alleges include zones not shown on the zoning map, referenced zoning districts that don’t appear in the ordinance or on the map, and sections that are referenced and can’t be found.

“How is anyone to know where a billboard can be located in this community?” Sweeney asked.

She argued that, as a result, the company should be allowed to place the billboard where it wants.

When Judge James asked how such errors could happen, Loperfito said he did not have an answer. But he argued that correct versions of the code are available and were presented to the company at the May hearing.

Loperfito told the judge that the commercial center zoning district where the company wants to place the billboard protects the borough’s traditional downtown. The borough notes there are no billboards in the commercial center district, and that it has denied all requests to place one in that area.

The proposed billboard — 14 feet high and 48 feet wide — would be “lording over the Tarentum Bridge” and “would change the essential character of the district in which the property is located,” Loperfito said in his statement.

The vacant lot where the pole for the sign would be placed is now being used to store tractor-trailers.

Loperfito argued the borough does not exclude billboards, citing the presence of one along Route 28, where they are permitted, and on the other side of the bridge, which is in a different zoning area.