By Matthew K. Roy
PEABODY — The legal dispute between the city and three businesses with electronic message board signs is likely headed to court.
The Zoning Board of Appeals last week upheld cease-and-desist orders that Building Commissioner Kevin Goggin issued over the summer to North Shore Podiatry, The Mortgage Specialists and Sylvan Street Grille, all establishments on or near Route 114. Goggin found their signs to be in violation of Peabody's ordinance.
Jack Keilty, the lawyer representing North Shore Podiatry and The Mortgage Specialists, said his clients would appeal in Superior Court.
Goggin was spurred to action by city councilors who consider the signs unattractive and distracting hazards. The council last summer scrapped a revision of the sign ordinance and instead unanimously supported having Goggin enforce the existing sign regulations. They acted on the advice of Assistant City Solicitor Brian Barrett, who said the ordinance already on the books prohibits the bright, colorful and flashing displays.
Keilty said Peabody's ordinance is ambiguous.
The board voted 5-0 to uphold Goggin's orders. The businesses will have 20 days to appeal once they receive the formal, typed decision from the city, said Grace Augulewicz, the board's clerk.
Sylvan Street Grille's attorney, Robert Holloway Jr., said he had not yet received the board's decision, but he expects to be filing an appeal.
When councilors contemplated changes to the sign ordinance, Barrett advised them that they risked "grandfathering" the existing signs by doing so. He argued that the ordinance is not "ambiguous," as a clerk magistrate found when the city challenged the legality of North Shore Podiatry's sign in 2004.
The magistrate said the ordinance was ambiguous because it allowed for a "changeable message, such as those announcing special events or sales." Barrett, however, pointed out to councilors that the use of flashing and intermittent lights is clearly banned.
