Adams Outdoor Advertising won an appeals court victory in Pennsylvania, in its pursuit of a digital billboard that would be visible along Interstate 80.

A three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania sided with Adams on May 17:

• Affirming the trial court
• Pointing out that courts in Pennsylvania, including its Supreme Court, have “heightened concern” about local bans on specific types of billboards or signs (see full quote below)
• Dinging the locality (Borough of Stroudsburg) for failing to present evidence to support its denial of Adams’ permit request

Background

Adams and a landowner applied for a digital billboard permit in 2017; the borough issued a denial. The dispute went to court in 2019.

Several arguments in court

The May 17 Commonwealth Court decision said:

The Trial Court held that the Zoning Ordinance’s total prohibition against digital billboards did not violate Adams Outdoor’s constitutional right to free speech.

In addition, the Trial Court reasoned that the Zoning Ordinance’s limits on billboard size did not infringe upon Adams Outdoor’s substantive due process rights.

However, the Trial Court determined that Adams Outdoor’s substantive due process rights were contravened by the Zoning Ordinance’s blanket prohibition on digital billboards within the Borough; as such, the Board had erred in ruling otherwise. Accordingly, the Trial Court concluded that Adams Outdoor was entitled to site-specific relief, in the form of authorization “to build a digital sign that otherwise complies with Ordinance 1048-2018 and state and federal law.”

The borough didn’t present evidence

The Commonwealth Court continued:

. . . it was the Borough’s responsibility to defend its total ban “by presenting evidence to show that the exclusionary regulation bears a substantial relationship to the public health, safety, morality, or welfare.” It failed to do so, instead declining to offer any evidence or testimony in support of Ordinance 1048-2018, or the resultant amendments to the Borough’s Zoning Ordinance, at the Board’s June 19, 2019 hearing. Having failed to carry its burden of proof, the Borough gave neither the Board nor the Trial Court a justifiable basis for upholding the Borough’s total prohibition against digital billboards.

Concern about banning certain types of billboards

The Commonwealth Court and Pennsylvania’s “Supreme Court have shown heightened concern in previous matters which dealt with municipalities’ complete bans against specific types of billboards or advertising signs.”

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