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 to allow them to convert 20 existing static billboards to digital.  The city of Lexington denied the request, citing regulations against digital signs that are not on the premises of a business, according to the lawsuit. The city has looked at the digital sign issue since 2018, but has not passed an ordinance allowing digital billboards.

The city is currently looking at a revision to their sign code, as updated sign regulations were passed by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council’s Planning and Public Safety Committee in February.  The update to the code deals with on and off premise free speech issues, but does not include a provision for digital billboards.

The lawsuit seeks damages as well as an injunction that declares the sign regulations unconstitutional and orders the city to grant Lamar Advertising the permits for electronic billboards.

The City of Lexington has not yet filed an answer to the lawsuit.

Insider’s take:  Expect to see more lawsuits in Kentucky until the state legislature fixes the sign code which was thrown out by US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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