By Andy Goodman, Age Advertising.
Here are the five parts of a sign code I look at when determining the feasibility of a site for placement of an out of home structure.
- The first part of the sign code I look at is the section that talks about prohibited signs. You want to know what they think of billboards or electronic signs. I look at what signs are prohibited first.
- The next section that I go to is the zoning. I want to know the zoning along the freeway and if it allows for billboards, electronics signs, off-premise signs. Some cities have “freeway overlay zones” that specifically allow for billboards and/or electronic signs.
- If the code allows for billboards what are the spacing requirement. I want to know because a lot of times I’ll find that the spacing section is something very different from what Caltrans does. Caltrans requires 500 feet between static signs and then 1,000 feet between digital signs but a city which doesn’t want more billboards than they have already can require 2,500 feet or more between signs. And sometimes that’s not just linear on the same side of the freeway, sometimes that even extends to a radius.
- Height is another area I always look at. Is the height limited to the grade that the billboard is located at or can you increase the height of the billboard based on the road bed height that your primarily viewed from.
- More importantly these days is do they have a section that talks about development agreements and relocation. A city may allow new billboards only under a Development Agreement or Relocation agreement. That relocation may have to come from a surface street in that particular city to the freeway, or that relocation may come from a landscaped freeway anywhere in the state.
Andy Goodman has 33 years experience siting and developing billboards. You can reach Andy at andygoodman.age@gmail.com.
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