Longview News Journal says that Starbucks wants to demolish a building at 707 W Marshall in Longview, Texas and put up a coffee store. The problem is that a three sided Lamar billboard sits on the site and will have to go as well. Lamar has agreed to remove the sign if it can convert three other signs in Longview to digital. City staff say the plan will violate the city’s sign ordinance which requires that 2 billboards be taken down for every new billboard built and also prohibits digital billboards for off-premise advertising.
Insider’s take: Property rights matter. If Lamar has a valid, unexpired lease then someone (the landowner, Starbucks or the city) will need to pay fair market value to Lamar to remove the sign. If the city wants the development to happen bad enough, it makes sense for it to permit a variance to allow Lamar to put up digital billboards or static billboards elsewhere in exchange for taking down the existing three sided static billboard.
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So Longview has created a monopoly for Lamar? Interesting.
totally agree, this can be negotiated away if Lamar gets fair compensation. Forget the existing law and compromise a good deal for all regarding this matter.