Billboard Consent Agreement

The Billboard Consent Agreement of August 9, 2006 is a flawed agreement that attempts to rewrite several Philadelphia’s sign control laws without City Council or citizen input.

Although the purported purpose of the agreement is to resolve alleged unconstitutional issues in the recently enacted sign fee structure, and to remove a subgroup of illegal billboards (the smaller 8-sheet billboards), it actually resolves nothing, and does not guarantee billboard removal.

Some of the provisions of Billboard Consent Agreement include:

Legalizing previously un-permitted and illegal billboards with no regard for zoning, prohibited areas, spacing requirements, or traffic safety concerns.
Removing the requirement for safety inspections of billboard structures, despite recent examples of billboards that have collapsed in the region.
Reducing the proposed fee structure $650 to a level ($50) that will not allow for effective oversight by the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
Providing for a “poison-pill” provision which guarantees that if any group challenges the consent agreement, the billboard industry will have their un-permitted and illegal billboards legalized, while not having to pay permit fees, excise tax fees, or remove the illegal billboards.
Stripping the legal rights of community groups and residents to challenge the legalization of illegal billboards. Nothing in the consent agreement indicates that neighborhood concerns or input will even be considered let alone honored.
Legalizing billboards despite permit containing a different address or is of a greater size and height .
The Billboard Consent Agreement does not address the issues raised in the lawsuit: i.e. free speech and the constitutional right of a municipality to levy license fees on commercial outdoor advertising signs. Rather, it reaches deeply into the Philadelphia zoning code and rewrites every law that has ever been passed to control the proliferation of billboards in Philadelphia. The agreement is, in essence, new legislation, usurping City Council’s role as legislative body and is outside the scope of authority granted to City Law Department by the Philadelphia City Charter. The agreement is an egregious departure from procedures regulating legislation and will seriously harm neighborhood revitalization efforts by scooping every billboard into the agreement including illegal ones. As such, it cannot be allowed to be approved by the Court and entered as a final order. It must be challenged, and struck down in its entirety

How will it affect your neighborhood?

If there are un-permitted, illegal or unsafe billboards present, they will be granted a legal right to remain, undermining revitalization or beautification efforts.
Once legalized, the sign company must be compensated if revitalization efforts require removal of intrusive billboards.
If the status of a billboard is unknown, it will be granted legal status.