Digital Billboard Conversion Ordinance

At a glance

• What: zoning amendment to the billboard removal incentive: a billboard company may convert one existing vinyl billboard (facing I-95 over an industrial site) to a digital face in return for removing others.
• Offer on the table (October 13, 2026): a minimum of 18 removals (about 5-to-1, in eight wards), 15 hours a month of public service announcements directed by the city, removals completed before conversion. The City Plan Commission recommends 10-to-1; the applicant says that is not viable.
• Concerns: neighbors and a scenic-preservation group oppose electronic billboards; Shelley Peterson pressed for a timeline and community benefit.
• Where it stands: public hearing continued to November 9, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. because zoning text cannot be amended after the hearing closes. Chair Pedro Espinal expects to add the public-service-announcement language then. Robert Azar is to confer with the proponents.
• 2026-09-14 - Committee on Ordinances - Public hearing: Planning recommended a rewrite with a 10-to-1 removal ratio; the petitioner asked for 2-to-1; residents and Conservation Law Foundation opposed. A motion to send it to the full council without recommendation was withdrawn and the item continued to October 13 (from auto-captions).

Sources

• 2026-10-13 - Committee on Ordinances (auto-generated captions; details may be misheard)

Discussion time

About 44 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Log

• 2026-10-13 - Committee on Ordinances - Public hearing continued to November 9 at 5:30 p.m. after about 44 minutes on removal numbers, the 10-to-1 versus 5-to-1 ratio and a 15-hours-a-month public service announcement condition.
• 2026-11-09 - Ordinance Committee Public Hearing - Continued public hearing scheduled for November 9, 5:30 PM (item 52752, new subsection of Zoning Ordinance section 2005; City Plan Commission letter on billboard regulation; testimony attachments posted).