Wind Turbines and Neighborliness

(Ridgeline Wind Turbines: Pennsylvania Resources Council, Inc.)

The Green Inc. blog at The New York Times carries an interesting post about how a federal judge has halted a large-scale wind energy project on the basis that it fails to protect an endangered species. The judge found that the endangered Indiana Bat would be harmed by the project, which is located on top of a mountain ridgeline, and that the company failed to take the proper steps to preserve the species required under the Endangered Species Act.

As the judge wisely commented, "The development of wind energy can and should be encouraged, but wind turbines must be good neighbors."

For more information on scenic issues involving wind energy projects, visit Scenic America's Wind Energy Resource Page.

FCC Enacts "Shot Clock" Rule on Cell Tower Permits

(Illegal cell tower overlooking Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)

Local zoning officals and scenic advocates need to be aware of an important rule change by the FCC requiring municipalities to act on cell tower permit applications within 90 or 150 days.

The new "shot clock" rule is a reminder to local authorities to have good rules regarding cell tower placement on hand to help guide good decision-making in a timely fashion. Poorly placed cell towers are often met with community opposition and can diminish property values and degrade the enjoyment of parks and scenic or historic areas.

For more information on the regulation of cell towers, visit Scenic America's resource page on telecommunications towers.

Toronto Passes Strict Billboard By-law and Tax

After several years of study and considerable debate, Toronto finally passed a billboard tax and strict new sign code to regulate billboards.

Illegal Signs.CA has a good synopsis of what the sweeping victory means for Toronto's landscape. The new by-law limits digital technology and will make it very difficult for new billboards to be erected. The inclusion of heavy fines should also force the removal of hundreds of illegal signs in the city-- previously, operators of these signs would simply ignore the law because of weak penalties and lack of enforcement. The tax is expected to raise $10.4 million annually, and the revenue will help the city enforce the new by-law. The expectation is that the number of billboards in Toronto will be halved over the next twenty years.

Big Billboard will seek to overturn the Council's action, of course, but the supporters of a beautiful Toronto are ready for the challenge.

Pinellas County Citizens Fight Digital Billboards

On Friday, we posted on how Tampa Bay neighborhood groups are strongly opposed to a plan to allow digital billboards. But the good folks at Scenic Pinellas informed us that the fight against digital billboards is ripe throughout the Tampa-St. Pete metro area.

FOX 13 provides an excellent news piece on the situation in Saint Petersburg, where the out-going mayor supports a proposal by Big Billboard to erect 10 digital billboards in exchange for the removal of static billboards elsewhere in the city. But City Council and neighborhood groups are wary of the proposed deal, noting that the results of the long-awaited FHWA safety study on digitals are just months away.

(FOX 13: myfoxtampabay.com)

And that's not all. Last month, Pinellas County enacted a moratorium on new digital billboards after learning that the industry seeks a larger digital roll out in the county. County engineers also have found evidence of an increase in distraction-related accidents near the location of an existing digital billboard. Undeterred, billboard companies propose that the county lower the 60 second duration between ad copy changes to every six to eight seconds.

For more, visit Scenic Florida affiliates Scenic Pinellas and Scenic St. Petersburg.

FHWA Unveils CSS Primer

(Photo: Center for Transportation and the Environment, NCSU)

Confused about what Context Sensitive Solutions is and what it can mean for your community? Well then check out FHWA's new, user-friendly CSS Primer.

The collaborative CSS process results in better transportation projects than the "our way or the highway" decision-making method of the past. CSS promotes liviable communities and sustainable transportation and allows for increased preservation of scenic, aesthetic, historic and environmental resources.

For more on CSS, visit Scenic America's CSS resource page and www.contextsensitivesolutions.org.

Toronto Council to Continue Debate on Monday

Although debate began this week on the future of billboards in Toronto (see prior post), City Council adjourned for the weekend and will bring up the issue on Monday.

But this excellent update from spacing toronto soundly counters an argument that one councilor made that digital signs are simply "modernization." As the blog post makes clear, light trespass for affected homeowners is more nightmarish than anything else. The post also points us to this disturbing open letter from an unfortunate soul subjected to "modernization" and a must-read 2008 LA Weekly article about how LA council members regret approving digital billboards after having had no idea what they were unleashing upon the landscape.

Tampa Bay Citizens Oppose Digital Billboards

Tampa Bay citizens and neighborhood groups are actively opposing a proposal to allow digital billboards in the city for the first time. The bill stems from a proposed legal settlement between the city and Big Billboard that hinges on the legalization of digital billboards in exchange for the removal of static billboards elsewhere. Residents voiced their opposition in a public hearing and raised concerns about the distracting nature of digital billboards, which rotate ad copy as frequently as every eight seconds and have been found to be a distraction to motorists.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Tribune passes along unusual testimony from the industry on whether digital billboards are like the moon: "If you never had any complaints about moonlight then you shouldn't have a problem with digital billboards." A more reasonable assessment of the brightness of these signs -- which an industry funded study found are ten times brighter than the surrounding area and three times brighter than traditional billboards -- comes from promotional material of a manufacturer:

"Nothing's as eye-catching as an electronic LED display. The brightly-lit text and graphics can be seen from hundreds of feet away, drawing the attention of everyone within view."

Indeed, as these unfortunate folks who happen to live in the vicinity of a digital sign in Saint Louis know, Tampa Bay residents have reason to be concerned about light trespass and distraction. Visit Scenic America's resource page on digital billboards for more on the serious safety and visual implications of these new signs.

Update: Here is another disturbing news video about how brightly-lit digital billboards are negatively affecting residents, this time in Detroit.

Historic Pittsburgh Church To Make Way for Billboards?

Preservationists in Pittsburgh are concerned about the future of the historic landmark St. Nicholas Church in Pittsburgh after Lamar Outdoor bought the property.

Lamar is seeking to erect billboards on the property as PennDOT is seeking to condemn a significant amount of billboards within the public right-of-way elsewhere in the area. But it is unclear whether it plans to raze the church building itself; preservationists are hoping to convince Lamar to allow them to covert the church into a museum on American immigration -- the parish served a Croatian population.

It is a large loss for established communities when churches close, and previous efforts by preservationists to buy the property themselves have failed. To think that a historic church could be razed for the purposes of commercial advertising is almost unimaginable.

UPDATE: Preservationists unveiled plans for the museum on Friday and will be meeting with Lamar next week. Lamar, which has not yet closed the purchase with the Diocese of Pittsburgh, hopes to erect 5 billboards on the property. It's unclear if the former church property needs to be re-zoned to accomodate the billboards.

Digital Billboards + Twitter = Epic Fail

Local tv station GM and news director suspended after embarrasing digital billboard advertisement goes awry.

Toronto Council to Finally Vote on Billboard Tax & By-law

Illegal billboard opposing billboard tax (illegalsigns.ca)

After much delay, Toronto City Council is finally set to take up final debate on the signs by-law and billboard tax that community groups have been working on for several years. Check out Beautiful City Toronto and Illegal Signs.CA for more on the creativity that Toronto citizens are bringing to the effort to reclaim the city's visual character from Big Billboard.

UPDATE: Yesterday's debate was ended to take up an issue concerning youth hockey; this is Canada after all. Follow the billboard debate on twitter at www.twitter.com/illegalsigns