Yesterday Lamar won a decisive battle in its ongoing dispute with the city of Pittsburgh over the Mt Washington billboard. The city cited Lamar for breaching the zoning code by enlarging or replacing a non-conforming sign when Lamar stretched a vinyl over the face of a non-conforming electronic sign. The Pittsburg Zoning board of Adjustment upheld the citation. The Court of Common Pleas reversed the citation. The Commonweath Court affirmed the lower courts decision. Yesterday the Pennsylvania Supreme court affirmed the decision by a 4-3 vote. The court found that draping a vinyl over an existing electronic billboard is not enlarging or replacing it:
“The record here does not support the Board’s legal conclusion that, by draping the vinyl static sign over the existing electronic sign and sign structure, Lamar violated Code Section 921.03.F.2. We further conclude that the Commonwealth Court’s decision in this case is not inconsistent with that court’s earlier decision in Lamar Advertising Co. v. Zoning Hearing Bd. of Monroeville, 939 A.2d 994 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2007), which held that structural alterations required to replace seventeen static vinyl signs with electronic signs “altered” those signs within the meaning of a municipal ordinance.”
Here are links to the Court’s majority opinion and the minority dissenting opinion.
Insider’s take: A terrific win for Lamar. The matter is now settled State law. Hard to imagine how this decision can be appealed. Lamar was represented by Jonathan M. Kamin, Esquire of Goldberg, Kamin & Garvin, LLP
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