Dinniman: Stronger Guidelines Needed to Address Digital Billboards

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An electronic billboard off 202 in Concord Township--via catalystoutdoor.com

By State Senator Andy Dinniman,

Chester County has gone to great lengths to preserve its open spaces, historic places and scenic vistas – the very landscapes made world-famous by artist Andrew Wyeth and others.

But what you won’t see in any Wyeth painting are the massive electronic and digital billboards that are beginning to appear alongside both rural roadways and residential neighborhoods throughout our region.

Recently, I met with residents of North Lake Drive in Downingtown to discuss the impact a large two-sided digital billboard on the Route 30 Bypass is having on their daily lives. Bright lights from the sign shine directly into their homes day and night, blinking with the shifting of images while invading their privacy and disturbing their sleep. In fact, one resident described the billboard as “a huge movie screen in the sky.”

In recent years, these signs have been proposed for everywhere from Phoenixville to Lower Oxford. Each time, residents have expressed serious concerns regarding the light pollution, traffic safety, and other related issues.

In 2012, the Phoenixville Zoning Board ruled against a challenge to its ordinances, which would have allowed such a sign to be constructed along Nutt Road. Last January, the Lower Oxford Supervisors in a split vote approved an ordinance allowing a video billboard along Route 1, but residents continue to strongly oppose such a billboard and its intrusion into their rural agricultural landscape. Meanwhile, large electronic billboards continue to pop up in our communities.

Chester County has invested millions of dollars in preserving our open spaces and scenic vistas. To let huge, digital billboards – signs that are more suitable for Times Square than Chester County – overrun the countryside would be contrary to all our efforts to protect our region’s rural charm, natural viewsheds, and local communities.

Furthermore, these signs don’t only disrupt our open space and environmental preservation efforts, but they also have a potentially negative impact on home property values and residents’ quality of life.

As one Downingtown resident appealed to me in an e-mail, “The residents need some type of action to get our quality of life back. The residents here need help. Can you please help us?”

In response to these concerns and others, I am drafting state legislation to establish guidelines for the placement of the large electronic and digital billboards.

My bill would require municipalities to do the following when considering or approving proposed digital or electronic billboards:

  • Consider and update lighting concerns regarding a proposed digital or electronic billboard’s lighting impact on local residents and neighborhoods.
  • Take into account the potential impact on open space and the preservation of open space viewsheds.
  • Consider the potential loss of real estate property value on nearby homes and businesses.
  • Consider vehicle accident rates on roadways and study a proposed digital or electronic billboard’s potential to distract drivers.

Furthermore, I am working with PennDOT and will introduce legislation to change the permit process by which the department approves such “off-premise” signs. I believe PennDOT should be required to include local municipalities in its site review process before granting any such permits on its rights of way. The bottom line is local leaders deserve to have a seat at the table when PennDOT is considering approving such a billboard. After all, we are the ones who have to live with the consequences.

Many of the federal laws governing outdoor advertising date back to the 1970s. At the state level, such guidelines are very limited. Meanwhile, we are seeing these signs proposed near residential neighborhoods, like those in Downingtown and Phoenixville, as well as some of the last bastions of agricultural open space in southern Chester County.

My legislation aims to give local governments the tools they need to adequately address such billboard proposals and protect their residents from potentially negative environmental and quality-of-life issues.

The bottom line is this is Chester County, not Las Vegas. And as state Senator, I will always stand up for the residents of our county and the landscapes, neighborhoods, and places that make it such a great place to call home.

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