'Amicable resolution:' City revoked violation notice issued over movie theater marquee

JEFF HORVATH, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·3 min read

The city revoked a notice of apparent zoning violation it issued in March over the brightness of the downtown Scranton Art Haus Cinema and Social Club’s new marquee.

A Scranton code enforcement official cited the movie theater at Penn and Lackawanna avenues March 25, writing in a letter that the property’s use apparently violated a section of the city’s zoning ordinance pertaining to light and glare. It followed complaints from a few tenants of the Samter’s Lofts apartments who said they were bothered by the brightness of the striking marquee Art Haus owner John Basalyga had recently installed.

The controversial notice prompted an outpouring of community support for the business and Basalyga, who described bright lights as a hallmark of downtown living and vowed not to dim his.

The city ultimately rescinded the violation notice in early April, anticipating an “amicable resolution” between Basalyga and Samter’s owner Charles Jefferson. The latter developer converted several years ago the historic Samter’s structure into a mixed-use building with first-floor retail space and 24 apartments.

In a letter dated April 5, city Code Enforcement Director Tom Oleski said he visited two Samter’s apartments to get a nighttime visual from the perspective of the complainants. Light coming through the apartment windows “could be considered a nuisance” under the zoning ordinance, he wrote.

“Weighing the issue and knowing that both you and the owner of the building across the street want to see successful businesses and welcome residents to enjoy a high quality of life in our downtown, we believe that an amicable resolution can be reached privately in this matter,” Oleski wrote in the letter to Basalyga.

“The City has decided to revoke the notice of apparent zoning violation, based on our understanding that a mutually amicable resolution can be reached between yourself and the other building owner,” the letter continues. “I believe that this resolution accomplishes our mutual goals of you utilizing the investment you obviously made in beautifying your building, with our shared concern of minimizing disruption to our downtown residents.”

Reached Monday, Basalyga said he’s always willing to work with people to find solutions to any problem but reiterated that, from his perspective, the lights never constituted a zoning violation. Lights are consistent with and should be expected of life in a city’s downtown, he said.

“You can’t shut the city down because one or two people don’t like it,” Basalyga said. “You have to do what’s best for the majority.”

Jefferson said Monday he and Basalyga are longtime friends and nothing will come between them that they can’t resolve. Basalyga hasn’t spoken directly with any Samter’s tenants but said he had a good conversation with Jefferson and considers the matter closed.

The marquee lights now turn off about 11 p.m. on weekdays, but stay on later on Fridays and Saturdays, Basalyga said.

“Maybe the city learned a lesson here too,” he said. “Maybe the city learned that they overreacted and they attacked a business before they should have looked at the situation. If anybody should have had a cooler head maybe it was them before they sent that letter.”