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City Billboard Compromise Flawed But Acceptable

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2009

A settlement with billboard companies scheduled to go before Tampa City Council today offers members a painful choice: allow distracting digital signs in some areas of town or face interminable litigation.

Members should be pragmatic and support the agreement. Despite some shortcomings, it does advance the city's attempt to remove billboards from its major streets. Pushing too hard could undermine those efforts.

There is no question visual clutter from billboards blights too many local roadways. But regulating the signs is a tricky legal business, requiring local governments to craft restrictions that will hold up in court, where the companies will claim their freedom of speech and property rights are being violated.
Tampa residents unhappy with the proposed settlement should appreciate that challenge.

The agreement would end a legal battle that has been going on since 1996, when Tampa sought to limit the number of billboards.

Companies claimed that if they were forced to take a billboard down, they could replace it somewhere else.

The agreement would end that claim. It would allow the continued removal of dozens of traditional billboards from scenic "corridors" on Kennedy Boulevard, Florida Avenue, MacDill Avenue and other streets.

But in exchange, the city would allow the companies to erect digital billboards, now forbidden by city code, in areas where billboards are not prohibited.

The electronic signs are hardly a welcomed addition to our streets. But the companies involved - CBS Outdoors and Clear Channel - have also made concessions.

The signs would have to be at least 500 feet from residential properties, and four traditional signs must come down for one electronic sign to go up. The electronic signs will not be able to significantly increase the ambient light in a neighborhood, says city attorney Chip Fletcher. The companies would pay the city legal expenses of $25,000.

And as part of the agreement, the companies will not challenge existing neighborhood plans that restrict billboards. Those areas include New Tampa, downtown and West Shore.

Fletcher feels strongly the agreement is in the city's interests. It strengthens the existing ordinance, and it is important to remember that since 1996, the ordinance has helped the city remove more than 600 signs.

"The result of all this will be fewer signs," says Fletcher.

The compromise, to be sure, is not perfect, but it is not a surrender to the billboard companies, as some critics claim.

Council would be taking a big risk if members chose a legal fight. Recent state laws on property rights could jeopardize the city's position.

Given the legal cards the city has been dealt, council should endorse the agreement.

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