The Enterprise
Billboard companies are seeking legislative authorization to convert their existing signs to digital displays. A pair of identical bills has passed out of committees despite opposition from people who believe billboard regulation should remain at the local level.
SB136, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, was passed out of the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee. HB87, sponsored by Rep. Melvin Brown, R-Coalville, was passed out of the House Transportation Committee. Brown said having two bills encourages the stakeholders to continue to work out their disagreements. Once they agree, one bill will be adjusted and move forward.
One major sticking point is a component that prohibits municipalities or counties from preventing billboard owners from updating vinyl signs to electronic or mechanical changeable-message signs, although cities and counties may impose a midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew on digital signs that are facing and within 150 feet of a home. The signs also would face illumination standards. The bills would prohibit cities from using eminent domain to prevent a billboard conversion.
Dewey Reagan, president of Reagan Outdoor Advertising, told the House committee that most cities have either banned or capped the number of billboards while at the same time having their own electronic displays or allowing businesses to use digital signs. Some have full animation, scrolling text and bright screens, none of which are allowed for digital billboards, he added. He said he favors state regulation rather than local zoning ordinances that allow cities to be “both referee and play in the billboard advertising game. …”
Jeff Young, senior vice president of Young Electric Sign Co., which has about 400 workers at a digital billboard manufacturing factory in Logan, told the Senate committee that digital boards are in “huge demand” and companies only want to employ advancing technology. “We don’t quite understand why we can’t improve the systems we have so that it reaches more people and becomes more effective. … There are umpteen features and benefits that come from employing this technology that we see,” Young said.
Michael Wardle, Young’s general counsel, said digital billboards allow small companies to get exposure in high-traffic areas at a lower cost because that sign space is shared as messages are rotated. As for homes, Wardle said limitations in the bill address concerns. “We do not feel that the deployment of this technology will negatively impact residential areas,” he said.
Rob Saunders of Saunders Outdoor Advertising said his company has only one digital sign, in Davis County. It has garnered positive feedback and allows businesses to change their messages quickly. “We are not asking for more signs,” Saunders said. “We simply want to be able to use the technology that all other businesses currently are able to use.”
But Jodi Hoffman, representing the Utah League of Cities and Towns, and Gary Crane, attorney for Layton City, spoke in opposition of the bill. Hoffman said the league concedes that industry should be allowed to convert to digital signs along interstate highways, but maintains that local planning and zoning authority, rather than state statutes, should regulate signs along surface streets or in or near residential neighborhoods.
Hoffman said digital boards are essentially 20-by-60-foot TV screens, and having them near homes, “we’re just not ready for that.”
In the House hearing, Melissa Johnson, mayor of West Jordan, said HB87 is “too broad” and “doesn’t balance property rights” of billboard owners and homeowners. “This isn’t just about the property rights of one individual,” she said. “This concerns the property rights of every adjoining individual. Whether it’s a residence or another business, we need to give those people the opportunity to have their say as well.”
In the Senate hearing, Senate Majority Leader Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, praised the curfew element in the bills. “I can have a billboard next to me and it wouldn’t bother me, but if that thing was on all night long, it would drive me nuts,” Jenkins said.
Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake, said the billboard-regulation matter is “a tough issue.” Depending on its outcome, it could have a big impact on the beautification of cities, she said.
In the House hearing, Brown said HB87 is designed to “protect a viable private enterprise” and to “protect their opportunity to compete with some of the things that are happening in their environment.”
Rep. Stephen Handy, R-Layton, described the matter as “an uncomfortable situation” because he favors local control but understands the need to balance that with private property rights.





















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