City Council Weighs Billboard Moratorium

Trying to fight urban blight, seven members of the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday called for a one-year moratorium on new billboards in the city while policymakers consider whether to ban billboards, cap the number of billboards or increase permit fees and restrictions on the signs.

“If we were a city in which billboards were a thing of the past, neighborhoods would look better, property values would improve, the economic climate would also get better,” said Councilman Mike Feuer, author of the proposal that will be voted on next week.

The one-year moratorium is intended to prevent billboard companies from buying up space while lawmakers consider more drastic action, Feuer said.

Four states--Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont--ban billboards, as do hundreds of communities nationwide, according to Scenic American, a Washington-based conservation organization. Houston, Denver, Jacksonville, Fla., Raleigh, N.C., and San Diego are among the major cities that have banned or restricted the signs recently.

A decade ago, the City Council passed restrictions on billboards, saying they cannot be larger than 800 square feet, or displayed more than 42 feet off the ground. They are not allowed within 200 feet of a residential area, and must be spaced 600 feet apart, except at intersections, where as many as four are allowed.

Feuer’s measure goes much farther. He would like to ban billboards and take down existing ones after a number of years.