Last Tuesday the Tacoma City Council unanimously passed Resolution 39890 to settle a 20 year billboard dispute in Tacoma, Washington.

In 1997 Tacoma amended the sign code to impose a 10 year amortization period for non-conforming billboards.

In 2007  Clear Channel began a legal and public relations counterattack (see billboard on right).

In 2012  Clear Channel Outdoor and Tacoma agreed to a settlement that stayed enforcement of the ban and stopped any litigation in exchange for the removal of 31 billboard faces.  The two parties commenced a lengthy series of negotiations plagued by false starts and dead ends in an attempt to solve the impasse.

In January 2017 Clear Channel sold the Tacoma billboards to Lamar and settlement talks heated up.

Here’s the outline of the new agreement:

• Lamar will remove 111 faces over a five year period.
• Lamar is capped at 225 faces in Tacoma.
• Lamar will convert its sign lights to LED fixtures using Smartlink Controls to reduce electricity costs.  Lights must be off from midnight to 5am.
• Tacoma will pay fair market value to Lamar for any billboards which must be removed due to the passing of future regulations.
• A related ordinance 28476 was passed which creates an exchange program to allow billboard companies to install faces in certain zones in exchange for taking down faces in other zones, sets billboard buffers around historic sites, schools, parks and residences and places height limits on billboards.

Here are links to the resolution and the agreement.

Korbe Palmer, Lamar’s Seattle/Tacoma General Manager tells Insider: “It’s been a long road, but we honestly feel that when a municipality and outdoor company are willing to sit down and work together, agree to be reasonable and respectful, amazing results are possible.”

Insider’s take:  Glad to see the two parties seek a negotiated settlement.  Tacoma gets fewer billboards and no billboards in residential areas.  Lamar gets just compensation protection for the remaining signs and the ability to swap existing signs for new locations.  Interesting to see that the city requires high efficiency LED’s and smartlink controls as part of the settlement.  Lower electric costs are a win for both parties.  Hats off to Korbe Palmer and Lamar and the City of Tacoma.

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