The City of Austin has asked the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit’s decision in favor of Reagan Advertising in a digital billboard dispute. Austin’s sign code says that on-premise signs can be digitized but off premise signs can’t be digitized. Reagan sought permits to digitize billboards. Reagan and […]
Legal
LA Planning Commission Opposes Billboard Rules
By Marnie Christine Cody Ware, Attorney, Hamlin Cody Billboard Insider’s post last week (2/19), Los Angeles Considers New Billboard Rules, described proposed rules that would allow relocation and permit conversion from static to digital in “Tier 3” sign districts. At the hearing on 2/25, the Planning Commission voted against “Tier […]
San Jose Says Partially No
A follow up from our February 25th article. The Mercury News had reported that the San Jose City Council was removing from the city’s list of top priorities plans to add new digitals signs allowing private property owners to erect free-standing billboard structures on freeway-facing sites, allowing smaller digital billboards […]
Rothfelder On Amortization And The Federal HBA
During the last week, Billboard Insider published a couple articles on related Constitutional clauses. First, Insider reminded us in What the Senate Said About Amortization while cautioning that the regulatory concept had actually been enacted into an ordinance by Wenatchee, Washington last year. Wenatchee and other governmental entities utilize the amortization […]
Is San Jose Saying No On Their Digital Plan?
Insider reported back in July 2020 that the City of San Jose was considering allowing up to 90 new digital billboards on private property as well as some smaller signs on public land. Though the City has had a prohibition of new billboard construction on public and private land, San […]
One Utah Senate Billboard Bill Fails. One Still Pending.
SB 144 which would limit the ability of municipalities to incentivize landowners to terminate billboard leases or refuse to renew billboard leases failed by in a senate vote on Monday. Here’s the bill’s language. The bill’s sponsor Senator David Hinkins introduced the legislation to prevent attempts by municipalities from paying […]
Kentucky House Approves Billboard Legislation
Kentucky House Approves Billboard Legislation The Kentucky House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a revised billboard-control act, in response to a constitutional (free speech) challenge to the existing law. Insider provides a quick update: Federal courts have ruled against Kentucky’s billboard law because it distinguished between on-premise and off-premise signs. State […]
Lamar Sues Fayette County and City of Lexington Over Digital Billboards
The Lexington Herald Ledger is reporting that Lamar Advertising filed a federal lawsuit against the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky on February 10th, over regulations that ban freestanding electronic billboards in the county. Lamar applied in September 2020 for permits […]
Los Angeles Considers New Billboard Rules
The City of Los Angeles has banned new billboards since 2002. This week the Los Angeles Planning Department released a 110 page staff report recommending changes to the Los Angeles sign rules. There will be a hearing on the proposed rules on February 25. The proposed rules would: Allow a […]
What the Senate Said About Amortization
Amortization – the ability of a state or municipality to require a billboard company to take down a billboard after a fixed period of time without compensation – rears its ugly head from time to time. Wenatchee, Washington passed an amortization law last year. Amortization was a hotly debated topic […]