Billboard Regulation
by Edward McMahon

Edward McMahon discusses what communities can do if they're serious about controlling billboards.

Is this the spacing of billboards you want in your community?

Read excerpts from article:

Come see America the beautiful, if you can. Amber waves of grain? It is more like a ride through the Yellow Pages. A windshield vista of 50-foot beer cans and towering Marlboro Men. Many thought billboards were an endangered species in 1965 when Congress passed the Highway Beautification Act. But the law was so riddled with loopholes and enforcement so lax that in recent years billboards have proliferated once again.

Curbing billboards is not easy. The billboard lobby employs a set of standardized tactics to oppose regulation. Lobbyists, lawyers, public relations firms seduce, mislead and, if necessary, intimidate local governments to forestall regulation. But with persistence and the help of a good city attorney, meaningful regulation is possible. Indeed, hundreds of cities, towns, and counties (as well as five states) prohibit billboards. ...

When considering billboard regulation, the most important question to ask is whether your community wants more billboards or less. If the answer is more, your job is easy. Do nothing and you'll get lots more billboards. Outdoor advertising companies are constantly seeking new sites and the technology of outdoor advertising now makes it possible to put enormous outdoor ads almost anywhere: on monopoles high above the treetops; in wetlands and other sensitive environmental areas; and even cantilevered over the roofs of buildings.

On the other hand, if you think your community has too many billboards or too many in the wrong places, you'll have to act. So where do you start?

Get the Facts

Start by getting the facts. Get a copy of your current sign ordinance and any applicable state regulations. Find out where billboards are allowed and where they are prohibited. Determine how many and what types of billboards currently exist in your community and how many permits for new billboards your community issued over the past five years. It is also important to find out how billboards are taxed -- if at all. Are they considered personal property or real property? How are they assessed? What do outdoor advertising companies claim their billboards are worth for purposes of local or state taxation?

Next, conduct a billboard survey. Communities need to count, photograph, and map the location of every billboard. This is important because billboards are often illegally erected. It also helps to determine exactly who is advertising where and whether billboards are disproportionately located in one neighborhood or another.

It is important to carry out these fact-finding tasks before you publicly announce your intention to regulate billboards.

Temporary Moratorium

Once you have the facts in hand and are ready to prepare (or revise) your sign control ordinance, you should -- if at all possible -- adopt a temporary moratorium on new billboard construction. A moratorium freezes the status quo and prevents the industry from rushing out and erecting dozens of new signs while the community debates what to do. The length of the moratorium should coincide with the time required to develop and enact new legislation. The legal requirements for moratoria differ from state to state but most allow communities to withhold permits while a new ordinance is being considered. ...

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